The Bombay High Court has ordered the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to pay ₹538 crore to Kochi Tuskers Kerala, now defunct Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise.
Bombay HC has upheld arbitral awards, directing BCCI to pay ₹385.50 crore to Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL) and ₹153.34 crore to Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) in connection with the Kochi team.
Owned by KCPL and RSW, Kochi Tuskers played one season of the IPL in 2011. In September 2011, the BCCI terminated the franchise for allegedly breaching its terms of agreement by failing to provide a bank guarantee by the stipulated deadline, following which both parties were involved in arbitration proceedings.
A Single-Bench judge, Justice Riyaz I. Chagla, rejected BCCI’s challenge to the arbitral awards, ruling that the Court could not sit and act as an appellate authority over the arbitrator’s findings.
In a 107-page order, Justice Chagla observed, “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 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,” the court noted.
The BCCI has been granted six weeks to file an appeal.
