After losing their legal fights against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for demanding compensation of their massive loses, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will now have to pay 60% of the legal costs of BCCI.
Due to cancelling back-to-back two bilateral series that have led massive losses for PCB, they took the legal action against the BCCI where they had claimed around $70 million in compensation. According to the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) that had been agreed by both the boards in 2014, India and Pakistan had to play two bilateral series in November 2014 and December 2015.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that had been signed in 2014, both boards had agreed to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. But due to the political tensions arising between the two countries, India and Pakistan haven’t played bilateral series since 2012/13.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) then organised a three-member Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) to look at that matter. There was the hearing at the ICC headquarter in Dubai from October 1 to 3.
Later, in the verdict, PCB’s claim was rejected. Soon after that verdict, BCCI decided to claim the legal costs on this matter.
On Wednesday (December 19), the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Panel ordered the PCB to pay 60% of BCCI’s legal cost on that compensation-demand legal action.
The Panel ordered that the PCB should pay 60% of “(a) the [BCCI’s] Claimed Costs; and (b) the administrative costs and expenses of the Panel which fall within the scope of paragraph 11.4 of the T/R (including, without limitation, the fees of the Tribunal members, and the costs and expenses they incurred in relation to this matter), the figure whereof is to be supplied to the PCB by the ICC.”
The Panel added, “For the BCCI, the victor in the arbitration, to be deprived of all its costs would appear to the Panel to be inappropriate, where the BCCI too had disputed the claim in good faith.”
After that decision, PCB released a statement that claimed, “The PCB notes the ICC Dispute Panel’s decision on BCCI’s claims for their legal expense incurred on the PCB-BCCI dispute. The award of significantly lesser costs than claimed by BCCI reflects that PCB’s case had merits. The PCB, however, reiterates its disappointment in the original decision/award given against it.”
