BCCI asked to pay up after Deccan Chargers win arbitration

In a long-drawn dispute, the sun has finally risen for owners of Deccan Chargers on Friday. A sole arbitrator awarded Rs 4800 crore to Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) in its dispute against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over what it alleged was an illegal termination of the former Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise team from Hyderabad.

The termination of the Hyderabad franchise Deccan Chargers occurred in 2012. DC which had won the second IPL, was one of the first eight teams of IPL. Bombay high court had in September 2012 appointed the arbitrator to decide whether BCCI's termination notice to the team for "irremedial breaches'' was valid or not.

The company had challenged the termination by BCCI over concerns of the company's financial stability. The HC had at the time also directed DCHL to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore in 10 days. BCCI had in 2012 said players were not paid and many banks were creditors of the franchise with collective dues of over Rs 4000 crore pending against DCHL. In eight long years, while arbitration was pending, in 2017 insolvency proceedings had begun against the company. The insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code stalled the arbitral process for two years. Finally, in what may have seemed a like a long-drawn Test match, to the parties, sole arbitrator former Supreme Court Judge C K Thakker, via a virtual proceeding, pronounced the award orally.

Ashish Pyasi of Dhir and Dhir Associates, law firm representing DC said its contention of unlawful termination is upheld and BCCI is given time till September end to pay the amount. Viraj Maniar of Maniar Srivastava Associates, the law firm for BCCI, said "the detailed award copy is awaited. Once it is received, it will be studied and next course of action, decided by BCCI.''