Supreme Court junks Lalit Modi’s plea seeking BCCI to pay ED penalty

The Supreme Court on Monday junked a plea filed by former cricket administrator Lalit Modi seeking an order to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to pay a penalty of Rs 10.65 crore imposed on him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

Advertisement

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan, however, said Modi will be entitled to avail civil remedies as available according to law.

The Bombay High Court on December 19 last year had imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on Modi while dismissing his petition seeking an order to BCCI to pay a penalty of Rs 10.65 crore imposed on him by ED for violating FEMA.

The high court had said the petition was “frivolous and wholly misconceived” as the adjudication authority under FEMA has imposed the penalty on Modi.

Modi, in his plea, said he was appointed as vice president of BCCI, during which period he was also the chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing body, a subcommittee of BCCI.

The plea claimed that BCCI is supposed to indemnify him as per the bylaws.

The high court bench, however, referred to a Supreme Court judgment of 2005, which said BCCI does not fall under the definition of a ‘state’ as defined under Article 12 of the Constitution.

Despite clear orders from the apex court, Modi filed this petition in 2018, the high court bench noted.

“In matters of alleged indemnification of the petitioner (Modi) in the context of penalties imposed upon the petitioner by ED, there is no question of discharge of any public function, and therefore, for this purpose, no writ could be issued to BCCI,” the high court had said.

“In any event, the reliefs are wholly misconceived. This petition is frivolous, and accordingly, we dismiss this petition,” the court had said and directed Modi to pay a sum of Rs 1 lakh to Tata Memorial Hospital within four weeks.