By Siddharth Subramaniam
NEW DELHI, India (TheSportsNEXT) October 19, 2012: The Bombay High Court, on Thursday, put brakes on the cash-strapped Deccan Chargers’ bid to stay alive in the Indian Premier League fold as they backed their expulsion from the cash-rich cricket league.
The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has already thrown the Deccan Chargers, champions of the Indian Premier League II held in South Africa, out of the world famous Twenty20 league.
However, an arbitrator had given owners of the Deccan Chargers to stay alive in the hunt but the Bombay High Court put an end to their efforts on Thursday as the BCCI’s decision to get the DC out of the IPL is now final.
The Press Trust of India quoted judge RD Dhanuka as saying, "The arbitrator had no jurisdiction. No case is made out... for granting stay on termination."
Despite of the arbitrator staying the Deccan Chargers elimination, the BCCI had already gone ahead with inviting bids for a new city in the IPL.
It is important to mention here that the Deccan Chargers were removed due to their inability to pay salaries of their players which was against the IPL financial regulations.
The Deccan Chargers were owned by the Deccan Chronicle Holdings, a media company based in Hyderabad Deccan. The media group had bought the IPL franchise in 2008 for 107 million US dollars but failed to submit 19 million US dollars as guarantee money to the BCCI which would work as a proof that the group was capable of paying all of its debts and players salaries.
The Deccan Chargers owners had pleaded the Bombay High Court that it had agreed to sell out the franchise to a Mumbai-based real estate group and tried to buy some time for paying the guarantee money but the BHC judge refused to give them more time and rejected their plea.
Now the BCCI have a couple of things to decide at the first place. They will have to look for new IPL franchise city and decide about the fate of the Deccan Chargers players and their outstanding dues.
With the sixth episode of the Indian Premier League is slated to be played in April-May 2013, the BCCI would accept bids for a new franchise before October 25, 2012.
