Mumbai Police sends Rs. 10.26 crores bill for match security to MCA
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) got a couple of shocking notices from Mumbai Police which states that the Association owes a total of Rs 10.26 crores for police security provided for International matches held in Mumbai. The MCA have reportedly been agitated by the exorbitant charges, some of which have been charged for security in Women's matches.
“How can you charge Rs 6.66 cr for women’s games when we all know the stadium was deserted and hardly a few people turned up?" a MCA official, who wished to be unnamed, told The Indian Express.
The two separate notices were sent to the MCA during the second and third weeks of November and it requires them to clear all dues within 20 days as reported by The Indian Express. Failure to pay the amount would result in seizure of properties.
The first notice states that an amount of Rs 3.60 Crores be paid as "police bandobast fees" for the T20 World Cup India hosted this year. Mumbai was the venue to five games during the tournament and also hosted three warm-up games.
The more intriguing notice, the second one, amounts to Rs 6.66 crores for the Women's edition of the World Cup that was held way back in the year 2013. A total of 13 international games and 7 warm-up games were held in Mumbai during this tournament.
What agitated the MCA, is the charge levied for Women's matches and warm-up games, where the crowd was little to none. The whopping fee charged has put MCA in a situation where they can only appeal for the price quoted.
The notice goes in this manner according to a report in The Indian Express:
“You are hereby issued a notice for sum of Rs 3.60 cr due from you on account of penalty imposed/Arrears of/Commercial Tax/ Sales Tax/Workman’s Compensation/Pension & Gratuity/ Consumer Dues, which are to be recovered as arrears of Land Revenue u/s 267 of the The Maharashtra Land Revenue Code 1966 and in case of non-receipt of dues within 20 days from the date of service of this notice you are liable for penalty of Rs.2 of notice fee.
Also, Compulsory proceeding will be taken against you according to the law for the recovery of the dues by. 1. Attachment and sale of moveable property Or, 2. Attachment and Sale of such portion of land which will satisfy the demand Or, 3. Attachment and Sale of right title and interest in other immovable property.”
Additionally, yet another letter sent from the Home Department states that the government had decided on a uniform slab rate for the provision of Police security for any cricket matches. As per the letter the following charges will be priced for matches:
a) IPL games in Mumbai- Rs 60 lakhs
b) Tests in Mumbai- Rs 50 lakhs
c) IPL games in Pune, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur - Rs 40 lakhs
d) Tests in Pune, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur - Rs 35 lakhs
This quote has also not been received well by the MCA as they wanted the quotes differently. An official, who chose to be anonymous, stated to The Indian Express, “We wanted to give five lakh for Test match per day whereas for T20 and ODI we had quoted 25 lakh rupees but instead local authorities wanted us to pay as per the uniform slab. How can security for Mumbai and other cities of Maharashtra be different?”
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