The Delhi high court will pronounce its judgement on a petition challenging the controversial ICC players' contract on Wednesday, even as the world cricket body questioned the jurisdiction of the Indian court in entertaining the writ petition on the dispute.
A bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and Justice B D Ahmed, reserved the order for January 22, with ICC and the two official sponsors, Pepsi Food and LG Electronics, contending that enormous damage would be done to the game if this petition is entertained, as it would open the flood-gates for more pleas, which would have international ramifications.
Senior advocate Anil Divan, appearing for the International Cricket Council, alleged that through the Public Interest Litigation on the controversy, a proxy war is being fought on behalf of the BCCI.
He said the petitioners have no locus standi and as per the Participating Nation Agreement (PNA) signed by the BCCI, any dispute arising in the contract has to be settled by arbitration.
Besides, the ICC and its marketing arms, the court has sought replies from the Centre, the BCCI, its president Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Reserve Bank of India and eight sponsoring companies, on a petition filed by former Union Minister and BCCI president N K P Salve and former cricketers Kapil Dev and Madan Lal seeking prohibition on the release of foreign exchange to Indian sponsors of the World Cup if Indian players are debarred from the upcoming tournament in South Africa.
The other petitioners are former West Bengal Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray and international umpires Ram Babu Gupta and Shyam Kumar Bansal.
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