This story is from October 15, 2014

Security dues: Notices to HPCA, government

Himachal Pradesh high court on Tuesday issued notices to HPCA, BCCI, state government and Kings XI Punjab on the issue of payment of expenses incurred on providing security cover for matches played at Dharamshala cricket stadium.
Security dues: Notices to HPCA, government
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh high court on Tuesday issued notices to HPCA, BCCI, state government and Kings XI Punjab on the issue of payment of expenses incurred on providing security cover for matches played at Dharamshala cricket stadium. The court has directed the respondents to file their replies within 4 weeks and posted the matter for December 9.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Chauhan passed these orders on a petition filed by one Vinay Sharma, who had submitted before the court that HPCA and Bhave not paid even a single penny to the state government for security charges and other legal dues such as taxes since 2010 when the first IPL match was played at HPCA stadium in Dharamshala.

Vinay Sharma in the petition said that HPCA is registered as a company at Kanpur and had been organizing matches at HPCA stadium in Dharamshala for last few years. He said that the entire character and focus of HPCA has become totally commercial with an eye on huge profits and it is no more a charitable organization but a registered company.
He said that at least 9 IPL matches and an international match have been played at the stadium and one more international match is scheduled to be played on October 17. He also informed the court that more than 1,500 police personnel were being deployed at Dharamshala for more than a week to provide security during the match and the government was spend at least Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1 crore per match for security from taxpayers' money.
He also submitted that the government had earlier spent around Rs 10 crore on security during previous matches, but did not receive anything from HPCA. He said that the cricket body was earning crores of rupees from TV rights, letting out of stadium for matches, from IPL franchisee and other sources, but was not paying legal dues to the government.
He cited the examples of Punjab Police, Mumbai Police and Madhya Pradesh Police recovering security expenses from respective cricket bodies and pleaded for directions to HPCA to pay legal dues.
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