In a recent legal development, the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition seeking to halt future editions of the T20 Mumbai League over a contractual dispute involving one of its former franchise teams, Shivaji Park Lions. The court’s ruling effectively allows the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to proceed with organising the league, despite objections raised by the team’s erstwhile owners.
The case was brought before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice M.S. Karnik. The petition had been filed by Jupicos Entertainment Pvt Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) created by a consortium of Juniper City Developers (India) Ltd (JCDIL) and Cosmos Prime Projects Limited (CPPL), which owned the Shivaji Park Lions team. The SPV was formed in 2018 to manage the team for the first five editions of the league, with JCDIL holding 85% of the stake and CPPL 15%.
Jupicos had approached the High Court in March, seeking an injunction to prevent the MCA from continuing the league without including their team, whose contract was terminated in 2020. The termination, according to the MCA and its operating partner Probability Sports (India) Pvt Ltd, followed an alleged payment default of ₹35 lakh related to the 2019 edition and non-payment of a TDS amount of ₹68.4 lakh for previous seasons.
The petitioner argued that despite transferring ₹5.6 crore to the MCA as the participation fee, they recovered only ₹3.7 crore as income, and claimed they received no sponsorship funds. They also stated that discussions had taken place with the MCA where they expressed willingness to settle dues after receiving sponsorship payments. They contended that the action against them was biased, as other team owners who defaulted were not penalised in a similar manner.
However, the court took note of the significant delay in filing the petition—more than five years after the termination—and pointed out that Jupicos had never previously contested the termination notice. The bench observed that the agreement between Jupicos and Probability Sports was of a determinable nature, and that the MCA had merely acted as a confirming party. It further remarked that the company’s late plea for interim relief lacked merit, and any claims of damages could only be pursued separately if the termination was later proven unlawful. The court upheld an earlier decision by a single-judge bench that had denied interim relief to Jupicos in April, remarking that there was no justification to overturn the earlier ruling.