By Ayanjit Sen BBC Sport in Delhi

Mani wants the Indian goverment to relax its tax laws

Stringent tax laws could prevent India from hosting big cricket events like the World Cup and Champions Trophy.

That was the warning sounded by Ehsan Mani, president of the International Cricket Council.

Mani, in Delhi to announce the voting academy for the ICC awards, said the ICC wants tax exemptions before any of its events are held in India.

He stated: "The ICC will not give away a big percentage of its income to any government agency."

Mani added: "If things go on like this, India might not get the next Champions Trophy in 2006."

He reasoned that the ICC is not a profit-making body, and even the Carribean governments have waived all taxes for the next World Cup to be held there in 2007.

India, with millions of television viewers has the largest audience for cricket in the world.

India was scheduled to host the 2004 Champions Trophy but the event was shifted to England after the Indian government offered no tax exemption for revenue earned from sports event held in the country.

Mani said some tax issues from the World Cup held in the subcontinent in 1996 have still not been resolved.

The president of Board of Control for Cricket in India, Jagmohan Dalmiya, hopes the government will listen to the board.

"If the government doesn't listen, we will go to the public and tell them the reason for our inability to host big cricket events," he said.

The BCCI also wants an assurance from the ICC that every third World Cup would be held in South Asia since four of the ten Test-playing nations come from the region.

Mani also said the ICC was disappointed to see former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin commentating for a private television channel in the ongoing Asia Cup.

"We believe that a player who has been banned by his board should have no position in cricket," he said of Azharuddin, who was found guilty of match-fixing.