The Supreme Court dismissed Lalit Modi’s petition in which he was to pay a fine of Rs 10.65 crore imposed on him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for violation of FEMA. Lalit Modi was requested to instruct the BCCI to pay this fine. However, a bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice R. Mahadevan said that Lalit Modi would have the right to get the benefit of the measures available according to the law.
On December 19, 2024, the Mumbai High Court imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Lalit Modi and dismissed his petition, in which he requested to order the BCCI to pay a fine of Rs 10.65 crore imposed on him by the Enforcement Directorate for violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The High Court had said that the petition was completely misleading, as the judicial authority under FEMA had fined Lalit Modi. Lalit Modi said in his petition that he was appointed as the Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). During this time he was also the president of the Indian Premier League Governing Body, a sub -committee of BCCI. The petition claimed that the BCCI should compensate them according to the bye -laws.
The bench of the High Court cited a 2005 Supreme Court verdict, stating that the BCCI does not fall under the definition of ‘state’ defined under Article 12 of the Constitution. A bench of the High Court said that despite clear orders of the Supreme Court, Lalit Modi filed this petition in 2018.
What did the High Court say?
The High Court had said, “There is no question of discharge of any public work in the alleged compensation of the petitioner in the context of the fine imposed on the petitioner (Lalit Modi) by the ED and hence, no writ can be issued to the BCCI for this purpose.”