Post by : Jyoti Gupta

Photo:AFP

The Bombay High Court has told the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to pay more than ₹538 crore to the owners of Kochi Tuskers Kerala, a cricket team that played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2011 but was removed from the league the next year. The court made this decision after looking at an old argument between BCCI and the team’s owners.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala joined the IPL in 2011. But after just one season, BCCI ended their contract, saying the team did not give a required bank guarantee (a kind of financial security). The team owners said they could not give the guarantee on time because of problems like stadium issues and changes in the IPL schedule. Even though BCCI kept talking to the team and took their payments, it suddenly ended their contract and took away a previous guarantee.

The team’s owners went to arbitration, which is like a private court, and in 2015 the arbitrators said BCCI was wrong and should pay over ₹538 crore to the owners for their losses. BCCI did not agree and asked the High Court to cancel this decision. But the court said it could not change the arbitrators’ decision just because BCCI was unhappy with it. The judge explained that the court’s job was not to re-examine the whole case but only to check if there was a big mistake, which there wasn’t.

Now, BCCI has six weeks to appeal this decision. This case is important because it shows that courts will not easily change decisions made in arbitration, especially in business and sports disputes.