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The Bombay High Court fined former cricket administrator Lalit Modi ₹1 lakh while dismissing his petition seeking an order to BCCI to pay a penalty of ₹10.65 crore imposed by the ED for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
As reported by PTI, a division bench of Justices M S Sonak and Jitendra Jain, in its order of Thursday, said the petition was "frivolous and wholly misconceived" as the adjudication authority under the FEMA has imposed the penalty on Modi.
In his plea, Modi stated that he was appointed vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). During that time, he also served as the chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing body, a subcommittee of the BCCI. The plea argued that the BCCI is obligated to indemnify him according to its bylaws, as reported by PTI.
The HC bench, however, referred to a Supreme Court judgment of 2005 which said the BCCI does not fall under the definition of 'State' as defined under Article 12 of the Constitution of India.
Despite clear orders from the apex court, Modi has filed this petition in 2018, the HC bench noted. “In matters of alleged indemnification of the petitioner (Modi) in the context of penalties imposed upon the petitioner by the ED, there is no question of discharge of any public function, and therefore, for this purpose, no writ could be issued to the BCCI,” HC said.
“In any event, the reliefs are wholly misconceived. This petition is frivolous, and accordingly, we dismiss this petition,” the court said and directed Modi to pay a sum of ₹1 lakh to Tata Memorial Hospital within four weeks, PTI reported.
(With inputs from PTI)
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