Parliamentary Panel grills officials on IPL issue

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, according to sources, pulled up the officials for indifference with regard to tax collection and probe relating to dealings of the IPL franchisee.

The meeting was attended by top officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs, besides top representatives of the RBI.

The members of the Committee, sources said, questioned the CBEC for its inability to assess and collect service tax from IPL franchisees and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The meeting of the Committee, presided over by BJP senior leader Yashwant Sinha, was held to adopt draft report on IPL and BCCI.

The members wanted to know from RBI whether the IPL franchisees or the BCCI violated the Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act (FEMA). Ministry of Corporate Affairs was also requested to find out whether IPL participants observed the provisions of the Companies Act in letter and spirit.

The Committee also questioned the role of former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan in the irregularities. The issues relating to conflict of interest between franchisees IPL and BCCI officials was raised by the panel.

In all, IPL has 10 franchisees, including Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab. The Committee sought details of the expenses incurred on the conduct of the second edition of the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa in 2009.

IPL was held in South Africa following a clash of dates with the general elections in India. Based on the lines of the English Premier League (EPL) and the National Basketball League (NBA), the IPL was introduced in India in 2007 by Modi.

Later, Modi had a fall out with his cricketing and political bosses and was forced to quit the BCCI.