The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) challenged two arbitration awards for over INR 538 crore given to the now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala Indian Premier League (IPL) team, but the Bombay High Court dismissed their arguments on Tuesday, June 17. The team only played in the 2011 Indian Premier League for a single year. This was the cash-rich league’s fourth edition.
Under a partnership run by Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL) and headed by Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), the team participated in the competition. Following the “wrongful” termination, RSW and KCPL filed for arbitration. On June 22, 2015, the arbitral panel granted KCPL over INR 384.83 crore and RSW over INR 153.34 crore, plus interest and fees.
Judge Riyaz I. Chagla’s one-judge panel rejected the two petitions filed by India’s cricket governing body, upholding the awards. The petition against KCPL focused on an award pertaining to disagreements that arose from the company’s March 12, 2011, franchise agreement with the BCCI. The verdict in favour of RSW was challenged because of disagreements that surfaced following its April 11, 2010, agreement with the BCCI.
Alleging that the awards were twisted, the BCCI asked the court to pursue the fact-finding path by reviewing the documents and considering conflicting interpretations of different parts of the parties’ agreements, the bench said.
“Under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act, this Court has extremely limited jurisdiction. Within the parameters of the grounds listed in Section 34 of the Act, the BCCI is making an effort to examine the merits of the dispute. Justice Chagla stated that BCCI’s displeasure with the conclusions reached about the evidence and/or the merits could not serve as justification for contesting the award.
“Given that the learnt arbitrator’s conclusion—that BCCI had improperly invoked the bank guarantee, amounting to a repudiatory breach of the KCPL-FA—is founded on a correct appraisal of the evidence on file, there would be no need for intervention under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act,” Justice Chagla continued.
KCPL failed to provide a bank guarantee by March 2011, as required by the franchise agreement. The lack of a new stadium in Kochi, shareholding permissions, and an unanticipated decrease in the amount of IPL games were all mentioned by KCPL.
Senior attorney Rafique Dada on behalf of the BCCI said that the tribunal’s “decision that the absence of a new stadium in Kochi was a violation on the part of BCCI is ex-facie materially contrary to the terms of governing contracts/documents.”
The cricket board further asserted that the tribunal had gone “beyond the terms of contract” and that KCPL had seriously violated the franchise agreement by neglecting to submit a bank guarantee. The damages granted for lost revenues and unnecessary expenses, according to the BCCI, exceeded the terms of the contract.
The respondents, KCPL and RSW, were represented by renowned attorney Vikram Nankani, who countered the BCCI’s argument that the firing was harsh and unwarranted.
Justice Chagla concluded that the documents supported the arbitrator’s conclusion after carefully reviewing the submissions.
In the IPL 2011, Kochi came in eighth place out of ten teams. Kochi was led by the Mumbai Indians’ current head coach, Mahela Jayawardene. They had six victories and eight defeats.
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