The Bombay high court has slammed the decision of Maharashtra government to not charge the Board of Control for Cricket in India for police protection given during cricket matches conducted in the state.
The move came to light after Right To Information activist Anil Galgali raised objections when the Mumbai Cricket Association did not pay Rs 15 crore to the Mumbai police for providing security for IPL, T20 and other cricket matches.
Galgali, tagging the Maharashtra Times newspaper report on the Bombay high court questioning the policy of Maharashtra government to not charge and give discounted rates to the richest sports body in the world for police protection, said on the other hand the government keeps increasing the water tax for those who live in slums.
Bombay high court judges Devendra Upadhyay and Amit Borkar then directed the Maharashtra government to furnish details of all the pending dues of the BCCI to Maharashtra government since 2011.
In a video posted in October 2022, Galgali had highlighted the fact that the MCA was not paying the dues of Mumbai police, which was not right.
The Hindustan Times newspaper also reported that a government circular on June 26, 2023, retrospectively reduced the fees to be charged by the police department for providing police personnel for cricket events, from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
