The Delhi high court on Friday allowed an advocate to be impleaded in the public interest litigation against the Centre's decision to waive off Rs 1.13 crore import duty on Sachin Tendulkar's Ferrari.
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Earlier, the bench had 'dismissed as withdrawn' Padmanabhan's PIL in the matter on the ground that a similar petition was pending before it. However, he had been given the liberty to implead himself in the PIL already pending before the court.
Raising questions over the government's decision to grant the duty waiver, the court had on August 13 issued notices to the batting maestro and the ministries of finance and sports.
When the matter came up for hearing on August 19, the Centre sought to defend its action by terming it a policy decision that had been 'blown out of proportion'.
Amicus Curiae Arjun Bhandari had submitted that it was not an issue of Tendulkar alone. The entire issue of duty exemption under the customs act had 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 had said.
