Kochi Tuskers Kerala to get INR 539 crore from BCCI following court order after years of legal arbitration.
Court asks BCCI to pay INR 539 crore over Kochi Tuskers Kerala termination issue.
Due to the 2011 termination of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL franchise, the BCCI has been ordered to pay INR 153.34 crore to Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) and INR 385.50 crore to Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL). On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court maintained the 2015 arbitral rulings against the BCCI.
Owned by KCPL and RSW, the Kochi franchise participated in one IPL season in 2011 and placed eighth out of ten teams. The franchise was cancelled by the BCCI in September 2011 for allegedly violating the conditions of the agreement by not submitting a bank guarantee by the deadline. Both parties then entered into arbitration processes.
“The jurisdiction of this Court under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act is very limited,” Justice Riyaz I. Chagla said in his order rejecting the BCCI’s challenge of the arbitrator’s award. “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 conclusion of the learned Arbitrator namely that BCCI had wrongfully invoked the bank guarantee which amounted to a repudiatory breach of the KCPL-FA would call for no interference under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act considering that this is based on a correct appreciation of the evidence on record.”
Six weeks have been given to the BCCI to submit an appeal.