BCCI declares payments, no explanation

MUMBAI: As promised by president Shashank Manohar, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has put out the list of payments of amounts over `25 lakh on its website.

Quite a few of them evoke interest like L Sivaramakrishnan being paid a fee of R26 lakh on October 16 as commentary fee from July to September 2015, the Twenty First Century Media Pvt Ltd has been paid `25.43 lakh for Look & Feel — additional and damage work for IPL 2015. Sports Mechanics India Pvt Ltd’s has received `93.40 lakh as its fourth instalment for BCCI ODMS Project while the Maharashtra Cricket Association has been granted `2.24 crore as advance due to the association.

The biggest payment listed for October is to Indiawin Sports Pvt Ltd (parent company of Mumbai Indians) of `15.96 crore as third instalment share of NCR for IPL 2015. Sivaramakrishnan could be among the last of payments made to a commentator as the new regime has declared the BCCI will discontinue the practice of offering contracts to commentators.

THE LIST IS DOMINATED BY REIMBURSEMENTS OR INFRASTRUCTURE SUBSIDIES ISSUED TO VARIOUS STATE ASSOCIATIONS OF THE BCCI

Then there is a payment of `35.83 lakh to Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd, for hospitality services for 2015 IPL games it hosted in Ahmedabad, which is unlikely to be there in the next two years as their team, Rajasthan Royals, is serving a ban. In taxes for the month of September, the BCCI has paid `32.9 crore as services tax and `7.42 crore as income-tax.

The list is mainly dominated by reimbursements or infrastructure subsidies issued to various state associations of the BCCI. While the figures have been put out, without an explanation of the purpose of the payment, there is little in way of transparency. Now, who knows what the ODMS Project is or what does the payment for ‘Look & Feel – additional and damage work for IPL 2015’ mean? It’s about convincing all the stakeholders that the money is being well spent.