BCCI gets knocked out by Bombay High Court in Kochi Tuskers Kerala case, loses challenge to INR 538 crore award
The Bombay High Court has dealt a big blow to the BCCI by dismissing its challenge to an arbitral award of over INR 538 crore in favour of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, a now defunct IPL franchise. Justice RI Chagla said the court can’t go into the details of the case as its role is limited under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act. He said just because BCCI is not happy with the award doesn’t mean they can challenge it.
The judge agreed with the arbitrator that BCCI wrongly cancelled the Kochi franchise’s agreement after the team played in the 2011 IPL season. The Kochi Tuskers Kerala was given to a group led by Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) and managed later by Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL). Though they played in the 2011 season, the team ran into trouble due to owner disputes and stadium issues. BCCI ended the franchise in September 2011, saying they didn’t get a necessary bank guarantee.
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The dispute started when KCPL couldn’t provide a 10% bank guarantee by March 2011 deadline, citing problems like stadium availability and shorter match schedule. But BCCI continued to work with them and took payments for several months before terminating the agreement and encashing an earlier guarantee. Kochi Tuskers Kerala fought back saying the termination was illegal and BCCI had let the deadline slide by their actions.
In 2015, an arbitrator ruled that KCPL was entitled to INR 384 crore for wrongful termination and RSW had to get back INR 153 crore plus interest and costs. BCCI challenged this and said KCPL’s shortcomings were bad enough to justify termination and damages were too high and RSW’s claims were invalid.
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The High Court rejected all of BCCI’s points, agreeing with the arbitrator that BCCI had accepted the late bank guarantee deadline. The court didn’t find any issue with RSW’s claims and dismissed the idea that arbitration was mishandled. Justice Chagla said there was nothing wrong with the award and allowed KCPL and RSW to withdraw the deposited amounts, giving BCCI six weeks to appeal. This is a long pending case that has been going on for over a decade with arbitration and court battles.
