Maharashtra to levy tax on IPL, T-20, ODIs

MUMBAI - Finally ending the political controversy over losses suffered on Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, the Maharashtra government has decided to tax the lucrative cricket tournament, according to an affidavit filed before the Bombay High Court here Monday.

The government’s affidavit came in a public interest litigation filed by senior Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai, questioning losses incurred to the state exchequer as the government dithered over levying entertainment duty (ED) on IPL matches, his lawyer Balkrishna Joshi said.

“The state government affidavit states that it will now levy ED on all IPL, T-20 and one-day cricket matches wherever they are played in the state,” Joshi told IANS.

The duty would be levied at the rate of between 10-25 percent in the urban, semi-urban and rural areas where the matches are played.

However, the decision would be implemented only in the future, whenever any of these cricket matches are held, Joshi added.

The state government also clarified before the court that the state cabinet had discussed the issue of levying ED only in January.

However, a final decision to tax IPL and other such matches was taken at a cabinet meeting early May.

The high court, at the previous hearings of the IPL, had sharply pulled up the state government for its failure to levy ED on IPL.

The court had also asked the central government whether Pawar’s association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a profit-making body, does not cause a “conflict of interests”.

Last April, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in a report said the state government had sustained a loss of Rs.4.99 crore on account of its failure to levy entertainment duty on the first IPL tourney in April 2008.

Desai had filed his written petition alleging that the state government was not implementing its decision to tax IPL and similar other matches, and that on account of this, the state exchequer had incurred huge losses.