The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today deferred, for the third time, a decision on the Kochi franchise in the Indian Premier League tournament.
This was a sequel to a last-minute filing of documents by the owners on a compromise agreement among shareholders. The BCCI will now meet in Mumbai on December 5 to mull a decision.
BCCI had earlier given 30 days to the franchise’s investors to resolve internal differences. Shashank Manohar, president, said: “They have disclosed their ownership pattern. Our legal experts will study the papers. There was no discussion with the investors because we are not legal experts.”
The Kochi franchise gave the required documents yesterday, on the eve of expiry of the time limit set in this regard by BCCI.
Kochi was facing a threat of expulsion from the IPL, due to a dispute on shareholding structure of the franchise between the consortium’s investors. The investors include Anchor Earth, Parinee Developers, Rosy Blue and Film Wave, who together hold 74 per cent of the equity. The remaining 26 per cent is with the Gaekwad family, as free equity for services rendered while bidding.
The investors opposed the Gaekwads holding free equity. The latter initially refused to part with it equity but have now agreed to let go at least 15 per cent.
On Thursday, the investors had written to BCCI of their intention to withdraw from the IPL. That was a sequel to BCCI expelling (on October 10) Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals for allegedly violating contractual agreements. The latter two have since taken BCCI to court and Manohar said this legal battle made BCCI cautious on deciding Kochi’s fate today. “We had no time to examine it. All of you are aware that every day we are in court in a legal battle and hence we would like to have the opinion of our legal experts before we take any decision,” he said.
The fourth edition of the IPL is scheduled to commence on April 8.