Case Law Details
Whether the activity of conducting one-day matches‘T-20 matches and Indian Premier League matches by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association would amount to doing business or trade?
It is the case of the Revenue that the assessee-society is conducting or organizing T-20‘ one-day matches or Indian Premier League matches. In fact‘ BCCI the parent organization which is a national body in India‘ is organizing and conducting the matches. The assessee-society‘ being a member of BCCI‘ hosts the matches which are conducted by BCCI. For the purpose of meeting its expenditure‘ the BCCI allocates funds from the revenue it collected from advertisement and other sources. The assessee-society is allowed to sell tickets to the cricket viewers. No doubt‘ the players of Indian Premier League are sold in public auction for very huge amount. But the question is who is conducting and who is auctioning‘ whether the assessee-society or BCCI? In fact‘ BCCI conducts the public auction for selling premier players at a huge premium rate. In fact‘ the BCCI collects the money. The role of the assessee-society is only to provide stadium for conducting matches. Other than that‘ the assessee-society has no role in conducting the international matches and Indian Premier League matches.
16. The other activity of the assessee-society is to conduct training programmes ‘coaching classes for college students at district level in the State ofTamil Nadu and in the Union Territory of Puducherry. The assessee is also conducting inter-university‘inter-school and inter-association matches. Expenditures involved in such activities were met out of surplus funds remaining with the assessee-society. The Assessing Officer got confused himself with the activity carried on by the BCCI as that of the activity carried on by the assessee-society. The material available on record shows that one-day matches‘ T-20 matches and Indian Premier League matches are all conducted by the BCCI and the assessee‘ being the host in the State of Tamil Nadu‘ is only providing its stadium. The assessee has also received funds from BCCI for meeting the expenditure‘ being the host. Therefore‘ this Tribunal is of the considered opinion that at any stretch of imagination‘ it cannot be said that the assessee is conducting any business activity. The assessee is also not providing any service to any trade‘ commerce or industry. In those circumstances‘ this Tribunal is of the considered opinion that proviso to Section 2(15) of the Act is not applicable to the assessee. In view of the above discussion‘ the assessee is eligible for exemption under Section 11 of the Act for all the assessment years under consideration. Accordingly‘ the orders of the lower authorities for assessment years 2009-10 and 2010-11 are set aside and the Assessing Officer is directedto grant exemption under Section 11 of the Act. The Assessing Officer is a/so directed to grant exemption under Section 11 of the Act for the assessment year 2008-09 a/so.”
Full Text of the ITAT Order is as follows:-
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