Notice to TS, APon tax exemption to Balayya film

A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Shameem Akther on Tuesday called upon the Andhra Pradesh government to produce all records pertaining to grant of exemption of entertainment tax to Telugu feature film ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni’.

The bench was dealing with a case filed by C.B. Adarsh Kumar of Hyderabad challenging the exemption granted to the film starring N. Balakrishna, Telugu Desam MLA, in the lead role. The petitioner contended that there was a controversy about whether Satakarni was a Telugu man at all.

The Telangana government said they had received representation but no decision was taken to exempt entertainment tax for the film.

Counsel for the petitioner said the Government Order was issued but not disclosed to the public. The case was posted to Jan 31.

‘Devuda’ film

A division bench of the High Court asked AP, Telangana and Central governments to respond to the case filed seeking a stay on the release of Telugu feature film, Devuda, that allegedly had scenes denigrating Hindu gods.

Subhadramma of Hyderabad moved the court, contending that Hindu gods were shown in bad light in the film and Central Board for Film Certification granted permission to release the film with objectionable scenes that hurt the sentiments of a majority of people.

The bench asked the authorities of both states and the Central Board for Film Certification to place all details in this regard before the court before January 31.