IHC asks RBI to stop World Cup payment to FIH

Alleging breach of contract IHC has requested RBI to stop payment by the 2010 World Hockey Cup organisers to FIH.

Mumbai: Alleging breach of contract and an intended violation of the Foreign Exchange Act, the Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC) has requested Reserve Bank of India to stop payment of USD 500,000 by the 2010 World Hockey Cup organisers to the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

IHC, claiming they had signed the original MOU for the World Cup to be held as a joint venture with FIH on November 6, 2007 before the mega event was organised in New Delhi by the Hero Honda World Cup Society, said that releasing the amount would also amount to violation of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Act 1973. In his letter to RBI Governor D Subbarao sent on Tuesday IHC`s lawyer Vijendra S Jabra has claimed that IHC`s MoU with FIH signed in November 2007 had also been duly executed and "is valid and subsisting till today and the same has not been terminated." IHC, formed after merger of the men`s Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) -- which has since been de-recognised by the FIH -- with the national women`s hockey governing body, has also claimed that already Rs 7.5 crore had been paid to the FIH by World Cup organising panel`s secretary Narinder Batra which was also a violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. IHC has claimed that as per the MoU it had signed with FIH, only the title sponsorship amount belonged to the world body and the rest of the revenue, including those from sale of TV rights, belonged to the joint venture organising committee that was to have been formed. "My client further states that the Hero Honda World cup society till date haven`t audited their Accounts. My Client owns lot of money towards damages from FIH," Jabra has written to the RBI Governor. "And it is therefore requested to you to kindly stop the release of the payment of 5,00,000$ to the FIH as the same is illegal and transferring the same violates the Foreign Exchange regulation Act 1973 as there is a restriction in dealing and transferring with the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act," he has written. "It is therefore requested to you on behalf of my clients that stern and immediate action be initiated in the above matter. It is also requested to you on behalf of my clients that if the immediate action is not taken grave prejudice and loss will be caused to my clients which cannot be compensated in the terms of money," he has concluded. PTI