Hearing on Ferrari tax rebate put off

The Delhi high court posted the hearing on a Public Interest Litigation, challenging the Rs 1.13 crore duty exemption on a Ferrari car gifted to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar by Fiat, to September 23, even as another petition was filed in the court questioning government's decision to waive the duty.

"Since the respondent (Tendulkar) has not been served with the notice, the matter has to be adjourned," a bench, comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice A K Sikri said.

At the outset, amicus curaie Arjun Bhandari submitted it was not an issue of Tendulkar alone. The entire issue of duty exemption under the Customs Act has to be examined. "Let us go through the records and see who all have been given duty exemption in the last three years under Section 25(2) of the Act," he said.

Such exemptions resulted in a huge revenue loss to the exchequer, he said adding the moot question is that of transparency.

"There has to be transparency and uniformity and no arbitrary decision should be taken," Bhandari submitted.

However, Additional Solicitor General K K Sud said it is a case of a policy decision of the government and "things have unnecessarily been blown out of proportion. Cricket is a game in which we are doing well and Let's not discourage players".

Sud also informed the court that a fresh petition on the issue raising similar questions has also been filed and it would be listed for hearing very soon.

The bench referred to media reports that Fiat has shown its willingness to pay the customs duty on behalf of the master blaster. Perhaps, former captains Ravi Shashtri and Mohd Azharuddin were also granted such exemptions earlier, it said.

Taking cognisance of reports in the matter, Justice Vikramjit Sen had, on August 13, ordered issuance of notices to Tendulkar, and the ministries of finance and sports.