Kochi, Aug 22: The controversy over Rs 1.13 crore duty waiver to batting star Sachin Tendulkar on the Ferrari car gifted to him by Fiat is refusing to die down with a new PIL being filed in the Kerala High Court today.
The PIL by Nri Sanu Joe Mathew follows similar such litigations in Delhi and Mumbai High Courts.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice J L Gupta and Justice A K Basheer posted the case to Monday for a detailed hearing.
Mathew has challenged the governmnent's decision on duty waiver as being "illegal" and "discriminatory" and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution (right to equality).
Section 25 of the Customs Act empowers the central government to waive customs duty on imported goods if it was satisfied that exemption should be given in public interest. It also stipulates that exemption should be granted only in exceptional cases. Besides, a notification also needs to be published in Gazette.

Mathew claimed no public interest was involved in granting the exemption to Tendulkar. If the government had collected the duty from the cricketer, it could have been utilised for some public welfare schemes, he said.
Bureau Report