The beleagured Hyderabad Cricket Association top brass suffered another blow when the Income Tax Department attached the 5.4 acres of land it bought to construct a cricket stadium in Shivar Mandal of Nizamabad district for non-payment of Income Tax.

A letter dated January 27, from the Income Tax Department Recovery Officer states that the HCA failed to pay Rs. 22.80 crore as tax and hence it is “ordered that the HCA has been prohibited and restrained until the further order of the undersigned, from transferring the above mentioned property which is included in the property of the defaulter by virtue of the Income Tax (1) of Section 222 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in any way and that all persons hereby prohibited from taking any benefit under such transfer or charge.”

I-T relief revoked

However, HCA president Arshad Ayub informed The Hindu that they had already paid Rs. 14 crore of the specified tax amount and the issue is pending before the Tribunal which has posted the hearing to next month. “We will take a final call depending on the Tribunal verdict,” he insisted. “It is disappointing that the IT relief, which was given to HCA earlier, has been revoked for reasons best known to them,” he said.

What doubles the misery of the HCA is the dwindling bank balance as the BCCI has also decided to release annual grant only after being assured that the money is spent for the specific purpose sought. Already, many staff members in the HCA including scorers, maintenance staff were not being paid salaries on time for want of funds.

It may be recalled here that HCA bought about six acres of land in Nizamabad for Rs. 13.90 lakh in 2011-12 and in Mahbubnagar about five acres costing Rs. 10 lakh when D.S. Chalapathi was the Secretary with the intent of developing infrastructure.

For the record, the Uppal Stadium is on the site given on lease by the State Government and not purchased by the HCA.

And, interestingly, when HCA got the first-ever Income Tax notice to the tune of Rs. 5 crore, the then ruling group approached the State government and saw to that it need not pay the amount as there was no commercial activity involved.

But, apparently, the high-profile IPL and the huge money involved in it changed the perception of the Income Tax Department which slapped the tax notice for the income generated through various HCA activities.