बॉम्बे हाई कोर्ट ने मध्यस्थता आदेश को बरकरार रखा, बीसीसीआई को कोची टस्कर्स को 538 करोड़ रुपये देने का आदेश दिया।

Bombay HC upholds arbitration order, orders BCCI to pay Kochi Tuskers 538 crore

The Bombay High Court has upheld the arbitration in favour of Kochi Tuskers Kerala and has asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to pay the now-defunct franchise INR 538 crore.

Justice RI Chagla rejected the BCCI plea challenging the arbitration award. The court said it cannot sit in appeal over the arbitrator's findings.

Rafiq Dada, part of the legal team that represented the BCCI, agreed that the High Court verdict is adverse. "The court has upheld the arbitration. It is now up to the BCCI whether to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. The BCCI has time up to six weeks," the BCCI counsel told Cricbuzz.

The Kochi Tuskers Kerala was part of the IPL in the 2011 season but its franchise agreement was terminated by the BCCI in September 2011. The Tuskers team was jointly owned by a consortium consisting of M/s. Anchor Earth Pvt. Ltd., M/s. Parinee Developers and Properties, M/s. Anand Shyam Estate Development, M/s. Rendezvous Sports World Pvt. Ltd., Vivek Venugopal and M/s. Filmwaves Combine Pvt. Ltd. The constituents represented Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL), a Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. M/s. Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), one of the partners of the consortium, was one of the petitioners.

The Arbitration award was given in favour of the Kochi franchise on June 12, 2015. "I am of the considered view that there are no valid grounds raised in KCPL's Petition and RSW's Petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act to warrant an interference with the KCPL Award and the RSW Award, which have been impugned therein. There is no patent illegality in the impugned awards which requires an interference by this Court.

"In view thereof, the Arbitration Petition No. 1752 of 2015 and Arbitration Petition No. 1753 of 2015 are devoid of merit and are accordingly dismissed. KCPL and RSW are permitted to withdraw the amounts deposited by BCCI after a period of four weeks from the uploading of this judgment and Order," Justice Chagla said in his 107-page verdict delivered on Tuesday (June 17), upholding the arbitration award.