 "Big blow to BCCI as Kochi Tuskers win Rs 538 crore arbitral award in IPL termination case"){kind=logo}
The Bombay High Court has ruled in favour of the former Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kochi Tuskers Kerala, handing a big blow to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) . The court upheld an arbitral award of over Rs 538 crore in favour of the Kochi franchise, which was terminated by the BCCI back in 2011.
Kochi Tuskers had played just one IPL season in 2011 before being banned by the BCCI due to an alleged breach of the franchise agreement. The BCCI said that Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL), which owned the team, had failed to submit a bank guarantee on time, which was required under the contract.
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However, Kochi Tuskers argued that there were other issues like stadium permissions and internal clearances, and that BCCI had still accepted payments and continued talks even after the deadline passed. The case went to arbitration in 2012, and in 2015, the tribunal ruled in favour of Kochi Tuskers.
It ordered BCCI to pay Rs 384 crore to KCPL and return Rs 153 crore to Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), the group that was originally awarded the franchise. BCCI challenged the decision in court, saying the arbitrator had gone beyond their powers and made legal errors in pronouncing the award.
BCCI dealt with a major blow
But the Bombay High Court has rejected BCCI’s arguments. According to Bar and Bench, Justice RI Chagla said that the court cannot re-examine the merits of the dispute under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act and that BCCI’s dissatisfaction with the findings was not enough to cancel the award.
“The jurisdiction of this Court under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act is very limited. BCCI’s endeavour to delve into the merits of the dispute, is in teeth of the scope of the grounds contained in Section 34 of the Act. BCCI’s dissatisfaction as to the findings rendered in respect of the evidence and/or the merits cannot be a ground to assail the Award,” the court said.
This ruling is one of the biggest financial setbacks for BCCI in IPL history and brings back attention to how the Kochi Tuskers saga was handled over a decade ago. The court has granted six weeks to the BCCI to file an appeal in the case.
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