NEW DELHI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered the Maharashtra government to provide an explanation for its choice to waive and reduce the arrears from the IPL match organizers in order to fund police deployment, stating that it could not find any justification for the action.
Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar, sitting as a division bench, claimed that while the government was increasing the water tax levies on impoverished people, it was also waiving police cover payments from wealthy cricket tournament organizers, as per PTI.
"What is this? What are you (government) doing? This is a fee not tax. You will keep on increasing the water tax from slum dwellers and then you waive off the fee for such cricket matches. The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is the richest cricket association globally," the court said.
The bench was deliberating over a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) initiated by activist Anil Galgali, which contested the state's determination to lower the police protection rate for Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 matches, effective from 2011.
According to the plea, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) owed the police Rs 14.82 crore for IPL matches played at the city's Wankhede and Brabourne stadiums between 2013 and 2018.
The organizers were required to pay between Rs 66 and Rs 75 lakh for each Twenty20 and One-Day match, and Rs 55 lakh for each Test match hosted in Mumbai's Wankhede and Brabourne stadiums, according to two government resolutions published in the years 2017 and 2018.
But according to the appeal, the government released a new GR in June 2023 that dropped the cost of a T20 and One-Day match to Rs 25 lakh.
In his argument, Galgali claimed that the GR waived the organizers' debts because it had a retroactive impact starting in 2011.
The state government was ordered by the bench on Thursday to provide an affidavit within two weeks that would support the reduction in amount and the discharge of the arrears.
"Prime facie, we do not find any rationale for the state government to have not only reduced the fee to be paid by the organisers for police deployment but to have also waived off the arrears," the court said.
The state government's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) or any other senior official designated by him, according to the court, is required to file the affidavit.
The court ordered that the affidavit reveal the entire amount of arrears that the cricket match organizers have been required to pay since 2011 as well as the actions the government has taken to retrieve those funds.
According to the plea, the Mumbai police demanded in 2021 that the MCA pay them Rs 14.82 crore in order to provide police security for the games that were held at the Wankhede and Brabourne stadiums between 2013 and 2018.
The petition stated that the police have so far written 35 letters to the MCA requesting payment of the outstanding amounts, based on information collected under the Right to Information Act. It further stated that other from this, the police had not made any significant attempts to retrieve the debt.
The plea asked the High Court to invalidate the government's June 2023 directive, arguing that it is legally binding since 2011 and will affect the recovery of the Rs 14.82 crore arrears from the MCA.
Along with the necessary interest, it also requested a directive for the police department to pursue the recovery of the arrears.
