Kochi escapes IPL expulsion again, fate to be decided on Dec 5

At a meeting of the IPL's Governing Council here, the BCCI put off the decision on the franchise for a third time after the expiry of a month-long deadline given to it for sorting out its internal bickering.

"They have disclosed their ownership pattern. Our legal experts will study the papers. There was no discussion with the investors because we are not legal experts. BCCI will take a decision on December 5 in Mumbai," BCCI President Shashank Manohar told reporters after the meeting.

"The Governing Council of the IPL has received all the documents from the Kochi team yesterday before the expiry of the deadline for them to submit their final say on the disputes," he added.

Barely seven months after becoming the second most costliest team in the Indian Premier League, Kochi was on the verge of being thrown out of the event due to the shareholding dispute between the consortium's investors.

But the owners of the franchise made a last-ditch attempt to save the outfit by reaching a compromise yesterday.

The investors -- Anchor Earth, Parinee Developers, Rosy Blue and Film Wave -- hold 74 per cent of the equity.

The remaining 26 per cent lies with the Gaikwad family -- Shailendra, his brother Ravi and their parents all part of Rendezvous Sports World -- as free equity for services rendered while bidding.

It is this 26 per cent which became a bone of contention among the stakeholders as the investors were in no mood to give free equity to the Gaikwad family.

The Gaikwads, on their part, initially refused to part with the equity but have now agreed to forego at least 15 per cent of it to put an end to the squabbling which threatened the very existence of the team.

However, before this settlement was worked out, the investors of the franchise, which was bought for a staggering sum of Rs 1533.33 crore, had written to the BCCI informing them of their intention to withdraw from the IPL.

That letter was sent after the BCCI, which had on October 10 expelled Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals for allegedly violating contractual agreements, gave a termination notice of 30 days to the franchise to sort out internal disputes regarding the shareholding pattern.

Kings XI and Rajasthan have since dragged BCCI to court over their expulsion and Manohar said it is this legal battle which made BCCI a bit wary of deciding Kochi's fate today itself.

"We had no time to examine it. All of you are aware that everyday we are in court in a legal battle and hence we would like to have the opinion of our legal experts before we take any decision," he said.

The BCCI has made it clear that eight teams will take part in the fourth edition of the league scheduled from April 8, just six days after the World Cup.