New Delhi, Apr 04: With the cricket World Cup ending on a happy note for the Indian cricket team, the Supreme Court today said the controversy relating to remittance of foreign exchange involving the sponsors, BCCI and the players will be heard by the Delhi High Court. A bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Arijit Pasayat said the sponsor, LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd, which had filed the appeal, should put its objections to the petition filed by NKP salve and others before the High Court. The bench said the High Court should hear the matter expeditiously uninfluenced by the observations of the apex court during the previous hearings.
Appearing for the sponsors, senior advocate Ashok Desai said the High Court's interim order interfered with the contractual obligations between BCCI and ICC and hence was bad in law. "Cricket, though watched with passion in India, should not produce bad laws," he added. The Supreme Court had on January 31 in an interim order allowed major sponsors including LG Electronics India (LGEI) to remit foreign exchange for the tournament but had said that it would be subject to final orders of the court. The High Court on January 22 had directed the Union Government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that no foreign exchange, either in the form of sponsorship money or as damages, be released to ICC if the apex body debarred India from playing in the championship or imposed any penalty or damages on players or BCCI.
Bureau Report