TOLLYWOOD T20 BASH | TOLLYWOOD T20 EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS

Tollywood stars may be sweating hard donning the roles of cricketers for their T20 charity tourney slated to be held at the LB Stadium here on Sunday but it appears that the glitzy day and night affair may be “illegal.” Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) Chairman and Youth Services & Sports, Principal Secretary AK Parida, in an order dated June 10, 2010, directed SAAP Managing Director and Vice-Chairman Mukesh Kumar Meena not to allow non-sporting and commercial activities and sale of tickets for any sporting event in stadia and other sports infrastructure owned by SAAP.The LB stadium is owned by SAAP. Movie Artistes’ Association (MAA), organisers of the T20 bash, have already sold out a majority of the tickets to film buffs. The cost per ticket ranges from Rs 200 to Rs 10,000. MAA members pointed out that this being a charity affair, it won’t make any sense if they were prevented from selling tickets. The matches were planned to raise funds for the economically backward artistes. Sources told Express that Meena was aware of the order but had been reluctant to implement it as the film industry was ready for the event. But AK Parida said allowing the film stars to sell tickets was illegal and “flies in the face of the Government Order.” By permitting the actors to play, SAAP would be inviting the wrath of income tax officials. The state government said the decision to ban sale of tickets for any sporting event and non-sporting events was taken after I-T officials had sent notices to SAAP to pay Rs 86.7 cr as levy.In 2000-01 and 2001-02, the Union government had exempted SAAP from payment of income tax. But in 2002-03, it nullified Section 10 (23) of the I-T Act, which exempts SAAP from paying I-T, through the Finance Act 2002. “I-T department took the decision as SAAP was making money by allowing commercial activities in its stadia by taking advantage of tax exemption,’’ an official said.MAA general secretary Ahuti Prasad said he was unaware of the Government Order.“MAA gave the responsibility of organising the event to Rythm which is looking after everything,” he said.