MUMBAI: Two terminations. Two arbitration cases. Two times, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s actions have been deemed illegal. Two times the BCCI has been ordered to pay BIG in damages.
The BCCI on Friday lost the arbitration proceedings brought against it by former Indian Premier League franchise Deccan Chargers, winners of IPL 2009, and has been ordered to pay a “substantial amount” for the “unlawful” decision to terminate the team in September 2012, Mumbai Mirror reports.
Economic Times has put a figure on said “substantial amount” – a whopping Rs 48 billion (Rs 4,800 crore).
The verdict was delivered on Friday morning by retired Justice CK Thakkar, the Bombay High Court-appointed arbitrator, with the exact amount that the BCCI will have to pay still to be confirmed, Mirror further reported.
For the record, the BCCI terminated Deccan Chargers Holding Limited (DCHL), under which the Deccan Chargers team operated, in September 2012.
The present award is on similar lines to what happened in the case of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) IPL franchise, which was terminated in September 2011, allegedly for breaching the BCCI’s terms of agreement.
In May 2017, the BCCI lost the arbitration proceedings against KTK, with the now defunct Kerala franchise being awarded around Rs 10.8 billion. That figure would have ballooned even higher if interest accruals are factored in.
What is the common link connecting the two terminations? Both happened under the watch of Tamil Nadu cricket’s “godfather” N Srinivasan, during his tenure as BCCI president (2011-2014).
Rather ironic, it needs stating, as the media has been full of reports this past week crediting Srinivasan for the decision in June 2010 to terminate the IPL media rights agreement the BCCI had going with the now defunct World Sports Group (WSG). While issuing the termination notice, BCCI had accused then chairman of its IPL governing council Lalit Modi of committing fraud in collusion with WSG officials to the tune of Rs 4.25 billion.
That case too went into arbitration, and the arbitral tribunal recently ruled in the BCCI’s favour.
The arbitral award allows the BCCI to appropriate the amounts lying in an escrow account pending the arbitration, which today, after interest appreciation, totals over Rs 8.5 billion.
As they say… “Win some, lose some.” But what can’t be clawed back is the money that has been paid out over the years (and continues being paid out) as lawyers’ fees for the multiple litigations that the BCCI has ongoing at any given time.
Related Reports
BCCI to pay Rs8bn+ compensation to Kochi Tuskers
WSG IPL rights deal termination: Tribunal rules in BCCI’s favour
