BCCI got Rs.2,168 crore government tax relief from 1997 to 2007

EXCLUSIVE

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi

THE Indian cricket board harps on one particular point while defying the government on various issues: it doesn’t take financial assistance. That’s far from truth, as official figures show that it has received huge tax exemption over the years.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) got tax exemption worth Rs.2,168 crore in 10 years, from 1997- 98 to 2006- 07, according to a document furnished by the assistant commissioner of income tax ( Mumbai) to Rajya Sabha last month.

Then, after the BCCI changed its objects and memorandum in 2009 to sponsor athletes of other sports, the department withdrew the exemption as this contribution is also charitable as per the Central Board of Direct Taxes circular of 1984.

The income tax department slapped a tax demand of Rs.375.15 crore on the BCCI income for two financial years — 2007- 08 and 2008- 09 — as per the document.

The figures were disclosed under Section 18 of the RTI Act and as part of a reply to a complaint filed by RTI activists Subhash Chandra Agrawal and Alok Varshney from the Capital. By disclosing these figures the sports ministry has tried to prove that the BCCI does receive indirect funding from the government in terms of exemption on the income, besides the entertainment tax exemption, customs exemption, discounted land for building stadiums, and police provisions during international and domestic matches etc.

The ministry, while giving its opinion to the Central Information Commission on whether or not the BCCI was a ‘ public authority’, said that it should be classified as a national sports federation as it also uses one of the national emblems (‘ India’), which means that it’s ‘ under govt patronage’. Also, the BCCI has been importing expensive ground/ pitch equipment from Australia, England and other countries and for that it gets heavy customs exemption.

The income tax exemption — which the BCCI enjoyed u/s 12A of the Income Tax Act before changing its objective on June 1, 2006, and thus losing that privilege — is huge. According to the document, the between 1997- 98 and 2006- 07 was in 1998- 99 when the figure touched Rs.1,818.20 crore.

In 2006- 07, the financial year during which the Sharad Pawar- headed BCCI changed its objective, it got the exemption worth Rs.127.51 crore.

In the 2007- 08 financial year, when the department started imposing tax on BCCI’s income, the Board’s income was assessed at Rs.274.86 crore and a tax demand of Rs.118.03 crore was raised, as per the document. And in 2008- 09, the BCCI’s income was Rs.608.30 crore and the tax demand was Rs.257.12 crore. Will the tax department ever be able to force the BCCI to pay up?

(This story first appeared in Mail Today newspaper in New Delhi, on Dec 24, 2011)

Virender Sehwag’s brass statue to be put up in Jamia Millia Islamia, his alma mater in New Delhi (Exclusive)
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi
VIRENDER Sehwag will soon get a unique honour when his brass statue, worth around Rs 10 lakh, is installed at his alma mater, Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi.

The central university and GMR Sports, whose IPL Delhi Daredevils team is captained by the swashbuckling batsman, have joined hands to pay this tribute to him.

Additionally, Jamia will name the pavilion of its ultra modern sports complex after Sehwag, who graduated from this central university in 2001- 02, and also establish a special Sehwag archives. The ground will now be known as Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi Sports Complex.

The Sehwag statue — one of the few celebrities, after renowned poet Mirza Ghalib, installed in the university — is part of an agreement that GMR Sports is set to sign with Jamia for establishing a cricket academy, officials involved in the project disclosed.

“ A three- year agreement is going to be signed between the university and GMR soon for the opening of an academy at the sports complex, which was fully renovated for the Commonwealth Games. The parties have agreed in principle on the terms and conditions, and an agreement is expected to be signed next month,” an official told MAIL TODAY . “ As part of the agreement, a brass statue of Sehwag, worth around Rs. 10 lakh, will be installed in the pavilion that will now be called Virender Sehwag Pavilion.

We have also decided to change the venue’s name from Bhopal ground to Pataudi Sports Complex, after the late former India captain.” Interestingly, Sehwag laid the foundation stone of the EJ Kellat Viewers’ Gallery of the complex on June 4, 2004, minutes before he received his Bachelor of Arts degree at a special function organised by the outgoing vice- chancellor Syed Shahid Mahdi, on the last day of his tenure. After receiving the degree, Sehwag had said that “ perhaps it has given me more happiness than the triple century” scored in the first Test in Multan.

It was also at this venue that Sehwag, with his off- spinners, performed his only hat- trick, in a club match in 2007, when he was trying to stage a comeback to the Indian team. By the end of that year, he was back in India’s squad for the tour of Australia.

Apart from Sehwag, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has been honoured with a bust in 1984 and Rahul Dravid being depicted in a mural at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore years later.

Gavaskar’s bust was made by a professor at the Arts College of the Lucknow University, when he played a Gavaskar XI- Viswanath XI match at the KD Singh ‘ Babu’ Stadium in April 1984.

Officials of GMR Sports, mainly chief operating officer Amrit Mathur, and Sunil Valson, a part of its management and a member of the 1983 World Cup- winning team, were highly impressed with the ultra modern facilities at Jamia during the three- day trials in September to test new players for possible recruitment to the Delhi Daredevils squad.

“As per our understanding, GMR will give scholarships worth Rs 3 lakh per annum to promising Jamia students who are good at sports, mainly at cricket. Thanks to GMR, it would be a very good exposure for the university students as they would get to learn from Daredevils’ specialist coaches and players by being involved with them, or by simply watching them,” the official said.

“In return, GMR will use all the facilities, including practice pitches etc., all the year round.” There are three practice pitches at Jamia and there is a proposal to establish three more. The exact details will be known when the formal MoU is signed in the New Year.

“Jamia vice- chancellor Najeeb Jung, who is a sports lover, has played a crucial role in this project, as have the officials of the GMR Sports,” said the official. It’s perhaps the first tie- up between an Indian Premier League franchise and an educational institution as large as Jamia.

(This story first appeared in Mail Today on Dec 23, 2011)