BCCI-WSG tussle: HC sets aside arbitral award in IPL media rights case

The Bombay High Court has set aside an arbitral award that had upheld the Indian cricket board's decision in 2009 to cancel its deal with World Sports Group India (WSG) for the media rights of the Indian Premier League.

WSG had approached the high court, challenging the majority arbitral award of July 13, 2020.

The company had initiated the arbitration, seeking the profit it would have made if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had not cancelled the contract. It had also claimed damages for "wrongful termination" of the agreement.


In his order on March 16, Justice BP Colabawalla said the tribunal's award in favour of the BCCI had failed to consider material evidence which would have a bearing on the outcome of the dispute.

WSG had won the IPL media rights for markets outside the Indian subcontinent for 10 years from 2008. But the BCCI cancelled the contract after finding out about an alleged facilitation contract between WSG (Mauritius) and MSM Satellite (Singapore) for WSG to stay away from renegotiations for the contract for the Indian subcontinent.

The BCCI had argued that all agreements of 2009 formed part of fraudulent composite transactions that gave it the right to terminate the media rights. Also, the cricket board alleged that all the agreements were executed only for the purpose of diverting funds to the Mauritius affiliate of the company, which showed that both companies were complicit.

In the high court, WSG argued that by virtue of the agreements entered into in 2009, the BCCI had benefited to the tune of about ₹1,791 crore. Failing to consider this benefit that inured to the BCCI and the fact that the board retained the same, was a fundamental error on the part of the arbitral tribunal, it said.