SC ensures Deccan Chargers is out of IPL

New Delhi, October 20: It’s curtains for Deccan Chargers as the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea made by Deccan Chronicle Holding Limited (DCHL) to save its IPL team.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to conduct a fresh auction of the Hyderabad team by October 25.

“We are not inclined to extend the time limit for furnishing the requisite bank guarantee to the BCCI by the petitioner,” a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said.

The court rejected the request of the DCHL to give it time till Monday to furnish a Rs 100-crore bank guarantee to the BCCI and suspend its termination notice till then.

“The position today stands that the agreement between Deccan Chargers and BCCI is terminated and the effect of extension of time to deposit the bank guarantee will amount to forcing the contract. It has been pointed out by the BCCI about the fact of termination of contract which is effective from October 12. In such circumstance we are not inclined to entertain the petition,” the bench also comprising Justices S S Nijjar and J Chelameswar, said.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the debt-ridden company, submitted that it had missed the deadlines to furnish the guarantee but now it had got a guarantee of the ICICI bank.

DCHL had approached the apex court, challenging the order of the Bombay High Court on Thursday, which had quashed the status quo order passed by an arbitrator on cessation of its membership in the league.

Senior counsel C A Sundaram, representing the BCCI, contended the DCHL was having serious financial issues and so it was no more interested in continuing this franchise as it could adversely impact on the IPL’s international image.

Allowing his plea, the court said the termination of contract between the Deccan Chargers and the BCCI had come to effect from October 12, the day on which the High Court held that the arbitrator had no jurisdiction to grant status quo and declined to grant extension of time for furnishing the bank guarantee.