The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has backed down from its earlier stand of instructing the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchise to pay their annual franchise fees despite not being allowed to participate in the ninth and tenth editions of the IPL and has decided to waive the charges until the end of the two-year suspension period.
The Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee had indicted CSK supremo Gurunath Meiyappan and RR owner Raj Kundra of indulging in illegal betting forcing the BCCI to take tough sanctions against the two teams. While two new teams – Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants – were introduced in the 2016 edition of the IPL, CSK and RR are expected to return from the 2018 edition of the T20 tournament.
It was based on this logic that former BCCI president Shashank Manohar, who has since vacated the post to take over as ICC Chairman, instructed the Super Kings and Royals to pay their annual franchise fees of Rs 73 crore and Rs 56 crore respectively. However, it has now been confirmed that current BCCI president Anurag Thakur informed the board during its annual working committee meeting held in New Delhi that the annual fees were being waived off.
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"Yes, the franchise fee issue is now settled. During the last (BCCI) working committee meeting, the president said that the BCCI has reached an agreement with both Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals and they don't have to pay the franchise fee. There's no longer any legal issues between the franchises and the board regarding that matter," Kasi Viswanathan, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary, told The Indian Express.
It is understood that the BCCI had decided to backtrack on their stand as they didn’t want to get involved in another legal tangle with the implementation of the Lodha panel recommendations continuing to create a big headache for the board.
Following BCCI’s original instructions, both CSK and RR had moved the Bombay High Court over what they felt was an unreasonable demand as they had been barred from competition but were still expected to shell out the hefty sum.
CSK manager George John had earlier told The Indian Express, “Our logic is simple; why shall we pay the franchise fee when we are not playing?”
The BCCI president, who also informed that both the franchises had withdrawn their respective cases after settling all differences with the board over the matter, said that the first installment of the participation fee that they had paid would be returned back to them.
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