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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Kochi plea squashed in Bombay court

Kochi celebrate Shane Watson's wicket, Kochi Tuskers Kerala v Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2011, Indore, May 15, 2011
Kochi's owners are trying to keep their team in the IPL© AFP

The Bombay High Court has squashed a plea from the owners of Kochi Tuskers Kerala challenging the BCCI's decision to terminate their franchise from the IPL, ANIhas reported.

Mukesh Patel, Kochi's chairman, confirmed on September 21 morning that they had made a plea. "Yes, we have moved the court and there is a hearing in the afternoon," he told PTI. At that hearing, the plea was rejected.

The BCCI had axed Kochi from the IPL for breaching its terms of agreement, the new board president N Srinivasan said, after the annual general meeting in Mumbai on September 19. The trigger for the decision was the franchise's inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. It is understood that the deadline for Kochi to submit the bank guarantee was March 26, 2011. Therefore the BCCI felt it had every right to terminate the contract once the franchise had failed to produce it.

Patel, however, had denied that the franchise owed the board any money. "The BCCI notice is wrong, prima facie," he had said. "We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us Rs 12 to 15 crore ($2.5 million to $3.13 million) next month as a part of our central revenue."

The franchise's dispute centres on the BCCI's decision to reduce the number of IPL games from 94 to 74. "The number of games in Tender Document was 94; they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees."

Srinivasan, however, had said that the decision to remove Kochi from the league was final and he called their alleged transgression an "irremediable breach" © ESPN EMEA Ltd.


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