Kochi franchise terminated by BCCI

Tuesday, 20 September 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL franchise has been terminated by the BCCI for breaching its terms of conditions, the new board president N Srinivasan has said after the annual general meeting in Mumbai.

“Because of the irremediable breach committed by the Kochi franchise, the BCCI has decided to encash the bank guarantee in their possession and also terminate the franchise,” Srinivasan said. When asked if the franchise had any chance of return, Srinivasan responded: “No, we have terminated the franchise because the breach is not capable of being remedied.”

The BCCI also appointed Rajiv Shukla as the new IPL chairman, succeeding Chirayu Amin, and said that the league’s governing council would take a decision on whether to have a another auction for a new franchise.

With Kochi’s termination, the ten-team competition will be reduced to nine.

The consortium that owns Kochi is reported to have defaulted on an annual payment of Rs 156 crores as a bank guarantee.

In April 2010, the BCCI’s working committee had rejected demands from Kochi and the Pune Warriors for a reduction in their franchisee fees.

The two new franchises, which made their debuts in 2011, had sought a 25% waiver on the grounds that the BCCI had stated in the bidding document that each team would play 18 league matches in a season.

The schedule was later reduced to 14 matches per team.

The two teams already paid 75% of this year’s installment and wanted the balance waived. They argued the reduction in matches was a breach of the terms of the Invitation to Tender the board had issued before the two new teams were bought.

Since they had based their bid on the number of matches to be played, a reduction in matches should therefore be accompanied by a reduction in the franchise fee. However, the BCCI voted to turn down the request at its meeting in Mumbai in April.

In March 2010, the Sahara group bid $370 million to became owners of the Pune franchise while a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World offered US$333.33 million for Kochi.