Hyderabad, February 01: Sachin Tendulkar has outshone Md Azharuddin again. And this time it’s not a cricketing feat but an Income-Tax (I-T) exemption that the ‘little master’ has managed to clinch unlike Azharuddin. While ‘artiste’ Tendulkar, through a case heard before the Mumbai bench of the I-T Appellate Tribunal last year, had managed to earn himself heavy tax breaks on his income through endorsements, ‘model’ Azharuddin has failed to do so.
In fact, in a latest development, the two-member bench of the Hyderabad I-T Appellate Tribunal has decided against granting the former cricketer any I-T exemptions for his income either as an ‘amateur’ sportsperson or ‘model’. The matter will now be heard by a special three-member bench to be set up by the tribunal soon.
In 1998-99, the wristy right-hander had declared himself as a ‘professional model’ (for various commercials) and ‘amateur cricketer’ before the city I-T department to seek tax exemptions roughly running into a few crores of rupees. When his request for exemption was turned down by the commissioner of I-T (Appeals), Azharuddin had filed a second appeal with the tribunal.
After several hearings conducted over a period of 14 years, the bench last week ruled that his claim was not justifiable. “Actually, there was a disagreement between the two members with one accepting Azharuddin’s argument and the other denying it,” said I-T sources. The bench comprised Chandra Poojari and Asha Vijayraghavan.
Incidentally, Vijayraghavan was also part of the three-member bench that had heard Tendulkar’s case last year. Though the judicial member of the tribunal had disagreed to the master blaster’s request of being granted exemption under the ‘artiste’ category (he had argued that a person needed creativity to face the camera and hence he was an artiste), the ruling was still passed in Tendulkar’s favour as the two other members stood for him.
This recent decision of the Hyderabad bench has now prompted the tribunal to set up a special three-member bench to hear the matter again and take a final call in the case. The hearing will be held in the next two-three months, sources said.
An official said, “After the Tendulkar case last year where the tribunal easily waived his tax dues and accepted that he was an ‘artiste’, we had thought that even Azharuddin would manage to get away. But that does not seem to have been the case, which is heartening.”
While it still remains to be seen what the tribunal finally decides, sources in the I-T corridors feel that the ace striker might fail to hit a boundary this time around.
Courtesy: TOI