In the IPL 2011, The governing council added two new teams to the mix in a bid to grow the IPL to the next level. One was Pune-based Sahara Pune Warriors and while the other was Kochi Tuskers Kerala. For the team from Southern-most part of India, this proved to be the first and last IPL. The controversies were not over though as there were legal disputes between them and BCCI.
Ending the stand-off, Supreme Court of India has now directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to deposit Rs 100 Crores in favour of Kochi with immediate effect if it wants a stay of an arbitral award. Kochi Tuskers Kerala had already won the arbitration case against BCCI for wrongly terminating the franchise back in 2011 for alleged breach of contract. Since then both the parties are fighting it out in the Court and BCCI has been on the receiving end almost every time. However, the problems don’t seem to end for them after the latest order by the Supreme Court.
Kochi Tuskers Kerala was added to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2011 and played in that season. However, their contract was cut-short by BCCI as they failed to submit a bank guarantee of 10% of the total franchise fee. BCCI had lost the case in 2015 itself and were given an option of either including the franchise back to the tournament or to pay them the compensation amount of Rs 800 Crores. BCCI did neither of the things and are now caught in a corner.
The retired Supreme Court judge Justice RC Lahoti had earlier passed an arbitral award of Rs. 800 crore in favour of Kochi Cricket Private Limited. But then BCCI had then filed a Section 34 application before the High Court challenging the decision which worked for them and that is when the opposing party approached Supreme Court. On Friday, the bench of justices AK Goel and Indu Malhotra heard the appeal of the owners of Kochi Tuskers and then directed the Indian board to pay Rs 100 Crore immediately.
Earlier it was BCCI President Shashank Manohar who had made the decision of terminating the Kochi franchise which had not gone down well with the other members of the board as well. Few officials have expressed that the hastily taken decision is now costing them dearly.
