Mumbai: Debt-ridden Deccan Chargers can no longer be a part of the IPL after their beleaguered owners failed to produce a Rs 100-crore bank guarantee before the Bombay High Court, a condition that had been set for the struggling team’s survival in the league.
Deccan Chargers’ failure to furnish the guarantee money before the 5pm deadline effectively means that the BCCI’s termination of the team stands and the Board was now free to float the tender for a new franchise.
Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, the owner of the franchise, had sought an extension to Friday’s deadline until October 15 to submit an “irrevocable and unconditional” bank guarantee, but the High Court refused to grant further time.
Justice SJ Kathawala declined to give them more time, saying the earlier deadline of October 9 had been extended by three days to accommodate them.
A top BCCI official said that the IPL Governing Council had earlier decided to terminate Deccan Chargers’ contract with IPL and that decision stands.
“We had decided to terminate the contract of Deccan Chargers. It was a decision taken by the IPL Governing Council and only that body can change it. So as things stand, their contract is terminated,” the official said.
The court had on October 1 asked DCHL to give the bank guarantee which would be in force for a period of one year.
The BCCI had last month taken the decision to terminate the contract after an emergency IPL Governing Council meeting in Chennai. DCHL had moved the Bombay High Court challenging the termination.
The court had, at an earlier hearing, ordered DCHL to bear all expenses for IPL 6, including making payments to BCCI towards franchise, player and support team costs.
In the event of any default on part of DCHL, BCCI shall be entitled to invoke the bank guarantee to the extent necessary, Justice Kathawala had said.
The court had on September 26 appointed retired Supreme Court judge CK Thakkar as arbitrator to resolve, within three months, the dispute between BCCI and DCHL over the termination of the Deccan Chargers franchise.
The judge had, however, clarified that the September 26 order would immediately cease to be in force if DCHL fails to furnish the bank guarantee.
The development comes on a day when the DCHL informed the Bombay Stock Exchange about its decision to sell the IPL franchise to a Mumbai-based real estate firm for an undisclosed sum.
Now that the BCCI is free to go ahead with the termination of the franchise, the fate of the proposed sale is uncertain. It is also unclear how the Deccan Chargers’ players will get any money due them.
Deccan Chargers was hoping to resolve its financial problems by selling the team, but it rejected the sole bid from a Hyderabad-based firm of Rs 900 crores, finding the terms of payment and the amount unacceptable. (PTI)
