Supreme Court gives notice to Bachchan

A Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice SS Kapadia on Monday issued notice to actor Amitabh Bachchan on a petition from the Income-Tax Department and put the matter for final hearing on October 28.

The Income-Tax department has challenged a Bombay High Court order which gave tax relief to Bachchan. The case relates to the actor's income from the popular TV game show Kaun Banega Crorepati.

The High Court had allowed I-T exemption on 30 per cent of Bachchan's total income of Rs 50.92 crore from the show.

The High Court had accepted the actor's plea that being an artiste he should be given tax relief under Section 80 RR of the Income-Tax Act.

The I-T department in its appeal challenged the order on the grounds that the relief is for those artistes who either earn by performing outside the country or receive payment from foreign agencies.

It was submitted by the I-T department that Bachchan was acting as an anchor in the television programme show for Star India Ltd and cannot be termed artiste for his role in the show.