Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will take a major sigh of relief as the Bombay High court passed a judgement in its favour. The HC set aside an arbitrator’s order that asked BCCI to pay in excess of 4800 crore rupees as compensation to Deccan Chronicle Holding Ltd (DCHL), the owners of former IPL side Deccan Chargers (DC).
A single-judge bench of Justice Gautam S Patel overturned the 2020 decision that asked BCCI to pay the money as compensation for terminating DC's contract. The Bombay High Court bench said that BCCI may pay rupees 30 crores with interest to DCHL that are due. Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta was appearing on behalf of BCCI.
In July 2020, a high court bench had ruled in favour of Deccan Chargers by saying that the termination of the IPL franchise was 'illegal' and thus, it made BCCI pay damages of over 600 crore rupees and compensation of 4150 crores. This order was naturally challenged by the BCCI in Bombay High Court.
The dispute began in August 2012 when BCCI issued a show-cause notice to DCHL for the termination of the DC franchise. The agreement with the DCHL was originally for 10 years. DCHL then wet to court and appealed for compensation.
After the recent judgement, a BCCI office-bearer told Cricbuzz that, "It is a major relief for the BCCI. The Arbitration Award was very huge, close to Rs 5000 crore. We are thankful to the honourable court."
"The Arbitration Award was unsustainable. The franchise had not performed its duties and sought compensation. The award could not have been sustained," the BCCI counsel Raju Subramaniam said.