The International Cricket Council's Executive Board on Thursday began a two-day meeting, which could decide India's future as a venue for high-profile international tournaments.
The ICC had already cautioned India to sort out the tax exemption issues and the meeting was expected to discuss the matter in detail before a final decision on whether to relocate next year's Champions Trophy out of India is taken.
| |||||||||||
"ICC gets tax exemption for every event it holds in any part of the world. If we don't get the tax clarification in due time, than we may have to take a decision on whether to stage the tournament in India," ICC President Ehsan Mani said.
Mani had discussed the issue with Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Sports Minister Sunil Dutt during a visit to the country last month. The ICC is trying to ensure that the Indian government does not impose tax on the income from the Champions Trophy, the most important cricket tournament after the World Cup.
The ICC chief said India's stand on tax related matters could affect its bid to hold future events.
"India is seeking to hold high-profile events including the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games besides the ICC events. India need to address this issue immediately. They must have absolute clarity on the issue," he said.
Mani said he was hopeful of getting a response from the government in the next two days failing which ICC would be taking a decision within a week.
The two-day meeting would also consider proposals about making the Champions Trophy an eight-team affair from the current format of 12 teams.
The meeting would also consider a report on the recent developments in Kenyan cricket including the Kenyan government's decision to derecognise the Kenyan Cricket Association, the creation of Cricket Kenya, the legal issues that have arisen as a result of these moves and the decision to withhold ICC funding to the KCA pending the resolution of these issues.
