The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) expects to complete information gathering relating to the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises in the next few days to ascertain whether there have been any violations in companies law. “We are looking into all the franchises. If some defeciencies are found from the details that we gather, then we will launch an investigation into the matter. But currently, it is only an inspection. It is a question of a few days until all the information is gathered,” MCA secretary R Bandyopadhyay said here.
Bandyopadhyay, who was speaking on the sidelines of an event at the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the Registrar of Companies had already issued notices to all the franchisees of the IPL and, under normal circumstances, the information was received within 45 days. However, extensions could be given if sought by the companies under consideration.
It is understood that details of the bidding process, sweat equity, memorandum of association and the franchise agreements will be scrutinised.
The MCA’s inquiry into the IPL franchises — which involve large domestic corporates such as Reliance Industries, Sahara India, GMR and India cements, apart from a number of big names from the Mumbai film industry — comes in the wake of ownership controversy over IPL’s Kochi team that resulted in the resignation of Union minister Shashi Tharoor and subsequently and the expulsion of the tournament’s commissioner Lalit Modi.