RoC issues notices to SRK, Gauri

New Delhi:

Actor Shahrukh Khan and his wife Gauri, who promote IPL franchise 'Kolkata Kinght Riders', and Jaipur IPL Cricket that promotes 'Rajasthan Royals' have been issued show-cause notices for alleged violation of the Companies Act.

"After expiry of notice period, criminal proceedings will be filed against the companies and the directors," the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Mumbai, informed the Ministry of Company Affairs.

The notices were issued to the companies and their promoters, directors for not filing mandatory yearly returns.

The MCA, on last Wednesday, had directed the RoC to collect within a week all details on IPL franchisees, including the bidding process, sweat equity and memorandum of association.

"My ministry is merely collecting information that we should have in the normal course of those companies that are franchisee companies," Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had told reporters on Monday, clarifying that this was not a probe.

The RoC-Mumbai, which inquired into the details of Red Chillies Entertainment and Knight Riders Sports, and Jaipur IPL Cricket, in a communication to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on April 22, said that "after expiry of the notice period, criminal proceeding will be filed against the companies and their directors."

The RoC said that these companies have not been filing balance sheets and annual returns.

Red Chillies, headed by Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan, is the promoter of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, while Jaipur IPL Cricket owns the Rajasthan Royals franchise.

According to an official sources, the companies have been given 15 days to respond to the notices given by the RoC Mumbai.

E-mails sent to Red Chillies Entertainments and Knight Riders Sports remained unanswered, while the Jaipur IPL Cricket remained silent on the RoC notice.

Red Chillies Entertainments, promoted by Shahrukh Khan and Gauri, holds 55 per cent stake in Knight Riders Sports has been charged for not filing balance sheet for 2006-07 with the RoC, as required under the Companies Act, 1956.

The directors of the Knight Rider Sports, which owns the Kolkata Knight Riders, include Gauri Khan and Jay Mehta and Sanjiv Desraj Chawla (husband and brother of Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla respectively).

Knight Rider Sports has not filed annual returns for the period up to September 2008 and September 2009.

As regards Jaipur IPL Cricket, its directors Raghuram Natrajan Iyer and Ranjit Rabindranath Barthukar, as named by the RoC, have been issued notices.

The Registrars of Companies of other regions are expected to give their reports on other IPL teams soon.

The enquiry by RoCs follows the controversy over ownership of the Kochi IPL franchise, where Rendezvous Sports World had given 19 per cent of the 25 per cent stake held by it to Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of Shashi Tharoor, who resigned as a Union Minister in the face of allegations that he had misused his official position.

The big IPL drama also saw the suspension of IPL commissioner Lalit Modi by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Gujarat-based industrialist Chirayu Amin has been appointed as chief of IPL for the interim period pending completion of the internal enquiry.