The Kerala High Court has asked a petitioner seeking the re-inclusion of the terminated Kochi Tuskers franchise into the Indian Premier League to approach the Justice Lodha committee, reported The Times of India.
Petitioner Sathish Kumar UK claimed that the Kochi franchise was arbitrarily and illegally removed from the IPL by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The franchise had been terminated by the BCCI after only one season in 2011 for breaching its terms of agreement by not furnishing a new bank guarantee.
Kumar claimed that the BCCI is not only being unjust by not reinstating the team, but also causing heavy revenue loss to the Kerala state government in the form of taxes. His petition states that the Indian cricket board is yet to pay around Rs 1,200 crore, which includes interest, that was ordered in arbitration proceedings by Justice Lodha.
The court, in its order, stated, “All these and any other grievance the petitioner has could more appropriately be dealt with by the Chief Justice RM Lodha Committee and if the said committee has any difficulty and/or reservation in examining the said issues, the same can be forwarded to the appropriate forum in BCCI itself. But surely, at the first instance this court would be reluctant to interfere in the matter.”
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