Mumbai, May 06: Bombay High Court today asked the Centre whether Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s association with cricket board BCCI did not cause a “conflict of interest”.
A division bench of Justices P.B. Majmudar and R.G. Ketkar directed that both the Centre and Pawar be made respondents to a petition filed by a Shiv Sena leader over entertainment tax exemptions given to the IPL.
The judges also sought the assistance of additional solicitor-general Darius Khambatta, representing the Centre, in finding out if the Union government had a “code of conduct” on whether a minister could hold an office of profit.
“If a minister holds a post in a cricket association, and the state cabinet is to decide on granting some exemption to the association… perhaps conflict of interest may arise,” the division bench said while hearing Subhash Desai’s plea. The Sena leader has argued that the tax exemptions to the IPL have caused losses to the Maharashtra government, of which Pawar’s party, the NCP, is a constituent.
The BCCI’s counsel, Raju Subramaniam, pointed out that Pawar was not holding any BCCI or IPL post at the moment. But Desai’s lawyer Balkrishna Joshi alleged that the IPL tax exemption was “politically motivated”. He pointed out that not only did the NCP share power in the government, but also its leader Sunil Tatkare was the finance minister.
The court then asked Pawar to be made a respondent. “Prima facie, this activity (IPL) is covered under entertainment tax (provisions). If there is no exemption, the state has no option but to recover it,” the bench observed.
The petition alleges that the state government gave the waiver because of political pressure from the NCP and claims that the Ashok Chavan cabinet had cleared a decision to impose the levy on the tournament.
“The court observed that as a profit-making cricket body, the BCCI would try to save tax, while the state government would like it to be paid. Then it asked if this causes a conflict of interest,” Joshi said.
—–Agencies