CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has upheld the arbitral award of Rs 4 crore to Baseline Ventures (India) Private Limited, a sports marketing and promoting firm, payable by the Volleyball Federation of India for the loss caused due to termination of an agreement both parties entered into for conducting the pro-volleyball league for 10 seasons.
The award of Rs 4 crore with 12% interest was decided in November 2020 by an Arbitrator in the dispute between VFI and Baseline Ventures over the conduct of the PVL and the termination of the agreement by the VFI.
The VFI challenged the arbitral award before the high court. “The Arbitrator rightly employed the correct test by doing an honest guesswork based on the materials while assessing the loss and the same does not require the interference of this court,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh said in a recent order. He dismissed the original petition filed by VFI with costs of Rs 2.50 lakh payable by the federation to Baseline Ventures.
The root of the dispute is the agreement between the parties in February 2018 for conducting the PVL for 10 years. The VFI is entitled to a one-time payment fee of Rs 2.50 crore for the entire term of agreement and in addition to it, the VFI will be paid a minimum guarantee amount and 50% of each season’s net profit. The first season was held in 2019 but the federation was not paid 50% of the net profit. Baseline Ventures replied that it had incurred a loss of Rs 1.66 core.
In the meantime, VFI terminated the agreement. Later, the dispute was referred to an arbitrator. The sports marketing company sought Rs 2.25 crore for the loss and another sum of Rs 6.28 crore as damages for the wrongful and illegal termination of the agreements.