Supreme Court allows BCCI to incur expenses for England series

A much-needed relief for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) arrived on Wednesday. The Supreme Court allowed the BCCI to incur all the expenses for the remaining matches of the series between India and England. Two Tests, 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is are to be played in the series. The court specifically mentioned that the payments will be made to the state cricket associations in the form of pay orders or cheques.

More importantly, no part of the fund will be taken by the host. The hearing was headed by the panel consisting of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud. A total of 1.33 crores can be incurred by the BCCI for the remainder of the Test series. A total of 25 lakh rupees for each of the T20Is and ODIs can be incurred too.

“We allow this application (by the BCCI). The BCCI will be free to incur Rs 1.33 crore expenditure for two test matches,” the panel said. “We also permit the BCCI to incur expenses of upto Rs 25 lakh per match for six matches (three ODIs and three T-20s) scheduled to be played with England in January-February,” the panel added further.

The apex court also asked the BCCI to file an affidavit revealing the total amount it received from the first three Tests of the series. Back on November 8, the panel had ordered that the payments will be made directly to the concerned parties with various contracts. BCCI will only keep a track of the actual expenditure, which will then be analyzed by the Lodha committee.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal turned up for the Indian cricket board at the court. “What was the income from the last three test matches? Are you (the BCCI) spending more than what you are earning?” Sibal was asked by the panel. Since he had no answer to the question, the panel further asked, “We want to know how much is the collection and how much the BCCI has got.”

“Then we will allow Rs 25 lakh per match so that you can have something in your hands for booking and other purposes,” it said further.

When asked if there are any daily allowances to be given to the visiting England team, Sibal answered, “Yes. The allowances are 50 pounds per day per head.”

There will be another hearing on December 9 discussing the the different arguments between the board and the Lodha panel.