Buta’s son gets tax notice for Patna charity cricket match

On March 15, 2005, Patna celebrated a cricket match with international flavour after almost a decade when Kapil Dev XI played Abdul Quadir X...

On March 15, 2005, Patna celebrated a cricket match with international flavour after almost a decade when Kapil Dev XI played Abdul Quadir XI to raise money for the Tsunami victims.

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who came with his family to watch the match organised by governor Buta Singh’s family, announced that the winds of change were sweeping Bihar after 15 years of Laloo Yadav rule.

Not much has changed, though.

Four months and two notices by the Commercial Taxes department later, Buta Singh’s son Arvinder Singh ‘Lovely’ and his wife Alka Singh who organised the match ‘‘to raise funds for the Tsunami victims’’ are yet to submit the audited accounts of the match.

Story continues below this ad

Ever since Buta Singh took over Bihar, his sons have been active in the state. The cricket match was organised by Freedom, a Delhi-based NGO run by the governor’s son and his wife.

They applied for tax exemption from the Commercial Taxes department and it was granted on condition that detailed accounts of the charity event should be submitted in a month.

The department has already served two notices. The second one reached the NGO last fortnight. ‘‘Yes, we have served the second and final notice to the organisers of the match after which we will proceed and collect tax as per the rules,’’ says an official. Lovely and his wife could not be reached for comment.

Tickets for the match were priced between Rs 200 and Rs 600 while students got them at concessional rate of Rs 75. An estimated 27,000 people attended the match.

Story continues below this ad

On the day of the match, it was announced that Buta Singh had handed over a cheque of Rs 11 lakh to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for helping the Tsunami victims.