BCCI to appeal against I-T penalty order: Pandove

Chandigarh:

The BCCI will appeal against the Rs 100 crore plus penalty it faces from the Income Tax Department for allegedly hiding its commercial activities, Board treasurer MP Pandove said here on Thursday.

"BCCI is a registered charitable institution. I am not aware under what circumstances they (the I-T Department) have made this assessment that we will have to pay Rs 120 crore as tax. However, we are yet to receive their order and once we get it, we will appeal against it," Pandove said.

The BCCI official said as of now, he had only learnt about the order through media reports.

"Once we get the order, we will study it and then go in for appeal," he said.

Asked for his remark on I-T department's allegation about the Board's commercial activities, Pandove said, "I would not like to comment on this".

He, however, was categorical in saying that BCCI continued to be a registered charitable body.

Ironically, the Punjab Cricket Association, of which Pandove is the Secretary, had also drawn flak from the I-T Department for carrying out commercial activities in the past.

PCA was registered as Society under Indian Societies Registration Act and had been exempted from paying tax under Section 12 (A) of the Income Tax Act.

The I-T department has reportedly passed an interim order, terming BCCI as a commercial organisation and not a charitable one.