Govt directed to tax IPL matches

The Madras high court on Wednesday directed the state government to make the necessary amendment to include sports under the Tamil Nadu Entertainment Tax Act, 1939; probably within four weeks. A petition by Sakthi Vasan of Valasarawakkam had sought to regulate the conduct of IPL matches in the state according to the Tamil Nadu Entertainment Tax and Tamil Nadu Cinemas Regulation Act.


The petitioner said authorities from the commercial taxes department hadn't "taken any steps" to collect entertainment tax from the IPL, Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, respondents, for IPL matches in Tamil Nadu. "If entertainment taxes are collected for the matches in Chennai, it will augment the government revenue and enable it to spend more money on welfare measures," the petition said.

Passing orders, the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam directed authorities to produce a letter issued by the Commercial Taxes dsepartment dated July 13, 2011 informing the proposed amendment had been sent to the government on June 7, 2011 for inclusion of sports under the Tamil Nadu Entertainment Tax Act, 1939. TNN