Indian cricket board suffered another set back on Wednesday when a division bench of the Bombay high court upheld the order of its single bench, Justice S.F. Vazifdar, to stay the termination of Indian Premier League franchise King's XI Punjab by the BCCI.
The two-member division bench of justice D.Y. Chandrachud and justice Anoop Mohata on Wednesday ruled that the entire basis of the letter of termination issued by the BCCI to the Mohali franchise was "erroneous and flawed".
"It is abundantly clear that BCCI wanted to terminate the contract on the basis of what was factually incorrect. Termination was anything but fair and was wholly arbitrary," observed the court.
The order means the Mohali franchise can take part in the BCCI's players auction to be held on January 8 and 9. The division bench cited seven circumstances that supported the decision of the single bench.
"The members of the consortium had exercised control of franchise," the Division Bench observed. "Neither Dabur nor Windy Investments had exercised 100 per cent control of franchise and all these companies belonged to Mohit Burman. There was no change in share pattern," the division bench said.
The division bench also rejected BCCI's argument that under the franchisee agreement King's XI Punjab can't seek injunction from any court and have to go for arbitration, saying, "this will not apply here". Franchise owners Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman, who were present, rejoiced over the verdict.