The cash-strapped Deccan Chargersare out from the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the SupremeCourt on Friday refusing to stay termination of the Hyderabadteam by the Indian cricket board from the cash-rich IPL andpaving the way for filling its slot by fresh auction onOctober 25.
The apex court declined to interfere with Thrusday'sBombay High Court decision which had set aside the status quoorder passed by an arbitrator on cessation of its membershipin the league.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir dismissedthe plea of Deccan Chronicles Holdings Limited (DCHL),promoter of Deccan Chargers, to extend the time till October25 for furnishing the bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore.
It accepted the submission of Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) that the termination of contractbetween the Deccan Chargers and the Board has come to effectfrom October 12, the day the High Court had held that thearbitrator had no jurisdiction to grant status quo anddeclined to grant extension of time for furnishing the bankguarantee.
"The position today stands that the agreement betweenDeccan Chargers and BCCI is terminated and the effect ofextension of time to deposit the bank guarantee will amount toforcing the contract," the bench, also comprising justices S SNijjar and J Chelameswar, said.
"It has been pointed out by the BCCI about the fact oftermination of contract which is effective from October 12. Insuch circumstance we are not inclined to entertain the SpecialLeave Petition (SLP)," the bench said but added that its orderwill not affect the arbitration proceedings between the DeccanChargers and the BCCI.
DCHL, which had hurriedly moved the appeal against theHigh Court order, had argued through senior advocate MukulRohatgi that it should be given a chance to furnish the bankguarantee by October 25 though it had failed in the earlieropportunity.
BCCI's counsel C A Sundaram, while opposing the DCHL's plea, submitted that the Hyderabad team was heavily indebtedand had not paid its players and others associated with it inthe last edition of the championship.
Further, he said that DCHL had failed to meet theobligation towards banks and financial institutions.
The High Court had set aside the order passed by thearbitrator, retired supreme court judge C K Thakker, formaintaining status quo after BCCI had filed an appeal.
The Deccan Chargers had lost its place in the IPL afterthe high court stayed the arbitrator's order for maintainingstatus quo in the matter till further hearing, while BCCIdeclared that the termination of the IPL franchise standsfollowing the court's order.
A day after ending the Deccan Chargers' franchise, theBCCI had begun the process of finding a new IPL team invitingbids in respect of 12 cities -- Ahmedabad, Cuttack, NoidaDharamsala, Indore, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Rajkot,Ranchi and Vizag.
BCCI had said that IPL season 6 will commence from Aprilnext year.
DCHL's failure to submit bank guarantee of Rs 100 croreof a nationalised bank allowed BCCI to initiate action infurtherance to the termination.
BCCI had on September 15 decided to terminate thecontract at an emergency IPL Governing Council meeting inChennai, which was challenged by DCHL in Bombay High Court.
The court had on October 1 ordered DCHL to furnish abank guarantee of Rs 100 crore, bear all expenses for IPL 6,including making payments to BCCI towards franchise, playersand support team costs. Besides, it was asked to bear thecosts of conducting matches and other expenses.