BCCI at wits' end over Kochi Tuskers payment
The BCCI, under the supervision of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), finally began the long-awaited round of negotiations with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kochi Tuskers this week.
The negotiations pertain to a four-year arbitration process that was conducted by former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti after the franchise was terminated on 19 September, 2011. The arbitration was awarded to the Tuskers in the year 2015, following which the BCCI once again decided to appeal and has now come to realise that there is no way forward for them in the matter than sitting across the table and settle.
If BCCI has to pay the Tuskers back on the lines of the arbitration awarded to the latter, the amount - with added compound interest, as mentioned in the arbitration order - totals to Rs 1471 crore until September 2017.
Even if calculated on simple interest, the BCCI still has to pay the Tuskers a massive Rs 1100 crore, a serious headache that it is now grappling with.
Those in the know of things admit "it is BCCI's fault that they brought this upon themselves. There was no reason to encash Kochi's bank guarantee on that fateful day - 19-09-2011- and that too at 7.40 am. It was just a battle of ego, it was solely Shashank Manohar's (then BCCI president) decision and BCCI has to pay for it now and the figure is mind-boggling."
At 11.30 am on 17-09-2011 which was a Saturday, BCCI had asked Tuskers to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 150 crore on the same day even as the franchise asked for a three-day extension since it was a weekend. Tuskers told BCCI it was not possible to furnish the guarantee in a few hours because nationalised banks worked only half days on the weekend.
"The three working days would have ended on 21-09-2011 (a Wednesday), giving the franchise enough time to submit the bank guarantee. However, Manohar - then president of BCCI - refused to entertain the request," an official privy to the developments on that fateful day said.
TOI is in possession of the arbitration awarded to Tuskers by ex-CJI Lahoti as well as the submission that the Tuskers have made in order to negotiate.
A senior Supreme Court counsel, who was advising the BCCI in the matter pertaining to the Tuskers back in 2011, said: "I advised Shashank not to do it (not to invoke the bank guarantee). The BCCI had not made any demand for the bank guarantee before that date and there are people who have testified."
Interestingly, the letter to the bank invoking the guarantee sent on 17-09-2011, was received by the bank on the 19th, the window that Tuskers had been asking for.
The BCCI, under the supervision of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), finally began the long-awaited round of negotiations with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kochi Tuskers this week.
The negotiations pertain to a four-year arbitration process that was conducted by former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti after the franchise was terminated on 19 September, 2011. The arbitration was awarded to the Tuskers in the year 2015, following which the BCCI once again decided to appeal and has now come to realise that there is no way forward for them in the matter than sitting across the table and settle.
If BCCI has to pay the Tuskers back on the lines of the arbitration awarded to the latter, the amount - with added compound interest, as mentioned in the arbitration order - totals to Rs 1471 crore until September 2017.
Even if calculated on simple interest, the BCCI still has to pay the Tuskers a massive Rs 1100 crore, a serious headache that it is now grappling with.
Those in the know of things admit "it is BCCI's fault that they brought this upon themselves. There was no reason to encash Kochi's bank guarantee on that fateful day - 19-09-2011- and that too at 7.40 am. It was just a battle of ego, it was solely Shashank Manohar's (then BCCI president) decision and BCCI has to pay for it now and the figure is mind-boggling."
At 11.30 am on 17-09-2011 which was a Saturday, BCCI had asked Tuskers to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 150 crore on the same day even as the franchise asked for a three-day extension since it was a weekend. Tuskers told BCCI it was not possible to furnish the guarantee in a few hours because nationalised banks worked only half days on the weekend.
"The three working days would have ended on 21-09-2011 (a Wednesday), giving the franchise enough time to submit the bank guarantee. However, Manohar - then president of BCCI - refused to entertain the request," an official privy to the developments on that fateful day said.
TOI is in possession of the arbitration awarded to Tuskers by ex-CJI Lahoti as well as the submission that the Tuskers have made in order to negotiate.
A senior Supreme Court counsel, who was advising the BCCI in the matter pertaining to the Tuskers back in 2011, said: "I advised Shashank not to do it (not to invoke the bank guarantee). The BCCI had not made any demand for the bank guarantee before that date and there are people who have testified."
Interestingly, the letter to the bank invoking the guarantee sent on 17-09-2011, was received by the bank on the 19th, the window that Tuskers had been asking for.
(Courtesy: The Times of India)
