HC upholds termination of Deccan Chargers from IPL

Mumbai: The Bombay High court today upheld the decision to terminate troubled Indian Premier League team Deccan Chargers from the cricketing league and said the legality of the termination by the national cricket board would be decided by the arbitrator appointed by it.

Hearing a petition filed by the Cricket Board, Justice RD Dhanuka quashed the status quo order passed by the arbitrator appointed by the High Court to resolve the dispute between BCCI and Deccan Chronicles Holdings Limited (DCHL).

On another petition filed by DCHL against termination of the contract of its IPL franchise, the court refused to grant any interim relief, but said the legality of the termination would be decided by the arbitrator.

[caption id=“attachment_494951” align=“alignright” width=“380”] Deccan Chargers are now officially out of the IPL. AFP[/caption]The court’s orders on the two petitions effectively means that the termination of Deccan Chargers’ IPL membership would stand, according to legal circles.

The arbitrator, retired supreme court judge CK Thakker, had last week passed an order for status quo to be maintained following which BCCI had moved the High Court in appeal.

“Arbitrator had no jurisdiction to grant status quo. On the same day (October 12), the high court had denied extension of time to DCHL to furnish Rs 100 crore bank guarantee as directed by the court on October 1,” Justice Dhanuka said.

He further said the arbitrator is not “superior” to the High Court and hence cannot pass an order which overrides the high court’s direction.

Criticising the plea made by DCHL before the arbitrator for status quo, the court said, “Once the High Court has rejected relief, the plea made before the arbitrator is not maintainable.”

Justice Dhanuka noted that the order passed by another judge of the court on October 1 directing DCHL to furnish bank guarantee was “self operative and protective of the interests of both DCHL and BCCI”.

The court also refused interim stay on termination of IPL franchise as sought by DCHL in a separate petition.

“DCHL has still not furnished bank guarantee. Hence there is no change in circumstances to grant relief to DCHL. No case is made out for interim relief for granting stay on termination. The application seeking stay is a gross abuse of law,” Justice Dhanuka said.

The court, however, observed that the legality and validity of the termination would be a subject matter before the arbitrator.

The arbitrator appointed by the High Court last month, retired Supreme Court Judge CK Thakkar, in his first meeting last week, passed an order directing BCCI not to initiate any action on its decision to terminate the franchise of IPL team Deccan Chargers from Hyderabad.

Aggrieved by this, BCCI approached the High Court which had, on Saturday, granted interim stay on the arbitrator’s order, thereby allowing the Cricket Board to take further action on the termination.

Soon after the High Court stayed the status quo order, BCCI issued tenders for IPL teams from various cities, including Hyderabad.

BCCI senior counsel Raju Subramanium had argued before the court while challenging the arbitrator’s order that the next IPL season was to begin in April 2013 and many present Deccan Chargers players could suffer if they were not included in the auction.

The BCCI had argued that owners of the team Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd was given sufficient time to submit the bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore as directed by another judge of the High Court.

DCHL’s failure to submit bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore of a nationalised bank permitted BCCI to initiate action in furtherance to the termination. The owners of the team had said that Deccan Chronicle, which is in financial difficulty, should be allowed to sell the team.

The owners of the team had initially refused a bid of around Rs 900 crore made by Andhra Pradesh-based PVP ventures that had been approved by the BCCI. The BCCI had subsequently terminated the contract with the team.

Deccan Chronicle had later declared that they had found a buyer for the team in Kamala Landmarc, a Mumbai based realty firm.

with inputs from PTI