Maharashtra revenue department sends notice to BCCI

Mumbai: The Maharashtra revenue department has sent a notice to the country’s richest sports body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), asking it to submit all the agreements it has inked with players and other organisations, since it has not paid stamp duty on the these contracts. State revenue minister Chandrakant Patil informed this in a written reply to state Assembly on Wednesday. Bharatiya Janata Party’s MLA Ameet Satam had asked questions about how much stamp duty was paid by the BCCI to the state.  

He pointed out that the BCCI headquarters are in Mumbai and the Indian Premiere League (IPL) is part of BCCI. Therefore, all agreements that the IPL governing body signed with players fell under the Maharashtra revenue department. Based on this logic, the state revenue department sent notice to BCCI asking it to submit details of all the agreements it had signed with the players. Mr Satam also pointed out that for past many years, the BCCI signed agreements with players but never deposited any stamp duty. In his written reply, Mr Patil said, “Any contract inked in the state should be registered with the department of registration and stamps. It is mandatory to pay stamp duty on these agreements as per the Maharashtra Stamp Act.” Mr Patil further added that the contracts signed by the BCCI with cricket players are of optional nature. “Hence registering them is not required, but stamp duty must be paid on it,” he clarified.

Mr Satam sought details of the actions taken against the board for not registering the contracts with the state government. “The revenue department is in the process of collecting agreement copies from the BCCI which they have signed with players, other organisations and individuals. The BCCI has been served with a notice to submit the necessary documents to the government,” Mr Patil said.