Cricket board a state for regulating game but not for recovery process: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain former IPL chairperson Lalit Modi’s plea for a direction to Board for Control of Cricket in India to foot the Rs 10 crore fine imposed on him for FEMA violations during IPL second season organised in South Africa in 2009.The adjudicating authority in May 2018 had held BCCI and its office bearers liable under various provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and imposed fines of Rs 82.7 crore on BCCI, Rs 10 crore on Lalit Modi, Rs 11.5 crore on N Srinivasan (then honorary secretary of BCCI), 9.72 crore on MP Pandove (then treasurer) and Rs 7 crore on State Bank of Travancore (now merged with SBI).

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Appearing for Modi, advocate Vikas Mehta told a bench of Justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan that as per the Rules and Regulations to Memorandum of Association, BCCI was to indemnify its office bearers against all losses and expenses incurred by them during the discharge of their official duties.He said BCCI has indemnified Srinivasan and Pandove against the penalty imposed by the adjudicating authority in May 2018 but has not yet responded to his request for similar treatment.“There is no basis to distinguish the case of the Petitioner from that of Pandove and Srinivasan by BCCI,” Modi said in his petition challenging Bombay HC’s decision not to entertain his writ petition. HC had imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on Modi.

The bench said Bombay HC had rightly rejected Modi’s writ petition as it is not maintainable since BCCI is not a state when it comes to civil proceedings, including recovery of money. Justice Narasimha-led bench said, “BCCI is a state in relation to regulating and conducting the game of cricket in India and hence writ petition could be maintainable only when it related to these two aspects of cricket.”It said that Modi would have the option of approaching civil courts for recovery of the money from the BCCI.

Modi’s counsel withdrew the petition to approach civil courts.After the alleged financial irregularities during the conduct of IPL second season in South Africa in collaboration with Cricket South Africa (CSA), BCCI had initially suspended Modi as IPL chairperson and then expelled him from BCCI in 2010.