The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition filed by former IPL chairperson Lalit Modi seeking direction to the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to foot the Rs 10 crore fine imposed on him over violations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) during the second season of IPL in 2009.
In May 2018, the adjudicating authority held BCCI and its office bearers liable under 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), Rs 9.72 crore on MP Pandove (then treasurer) and Rs 7 crore on the State Bank of Travancore (now merged with SBI).
The Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice R Mahadevan observed on Monday that the Board acted as a state in relation to regulating and conducting the game of cricket in India.
However, BCCI was not a state when it came to civil proceedings, including recovery of money and therefore, the writ petition was not maintainable, it added.
The top court of the country granted liberty to the petitioner to approach civil courts for recovery of money from the BCCI.
Modi moved the Apex Court challenging a Bombay High Court order that refused to entertain his writ petition. The High Court further imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on the former IPL chairman.
Appearing for Modi, Advocate Vikas Mehta argued 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.
The Board had earlier indemnified Srinivasan and Pandove against the penalty imposed by the adjudicating authority but was yet to respond to Modi’s request for a similar treatment.
There is no basis to distinguish the case of the petitioner from that of Pandove and Srinivasan by BCCI, he added.
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