The Board, however, confirmed that it had encashed "a part" of the bank guarantee of the franchise because Sahara defaulted on payments. This set off a war of words as Sahara issued another statement on Wednesday contradicting the BCCI's claims.
"The BCCI has read in media reports that Sahara has purported to terminate its franchise agreement and to pull out," a statement from BCCI secretary read.
"The BCCI has had no direct communication from its franchisee in this regard. The BCCI can however confirm that in order to satisfy the balance of the 2013 franchise fee of Rs 120 crore, which was overdue and owing to BCCI since 3 April 2013, it has encashed part of the bank guarantee."
Reacting to Pune's initial assertion that the BCCI showed no interest in going through with a process of arbitration following Sahara's request of a reduction in the annual franchise fee, the BCCI said, "While it is true that the arbitration has not progressed, the BCCI cannot be held responsible since every one of the eminent retired judges suggested by the BCCI was not found acceptable by the franchisee.
"In order to break this impasse, a letter was sent (to Sahara) proposing that as the claimant to the arbitration, it should approach the court to appoint an arbitrator so that the process could move forward. Again, there was no response."
Sahara, however, retorted a few hours later by saying it was the BCCI which had turned down their requests. "Sahara has been continuously requesting revision of the franchise fee. In the joint statement given on Feb 16, 2012, BCCI had stated that (they... along with Sahara) agree to start the arbitration proceedings....subsequently on various occasions Sahara had suggested names of retired judges as arbitrators, each of which were rejected by BCCI."
"After the said letter, Rajiv Shukla had a discussion with our chairman... in which he had suggested that we are ready to make the final instalment and are ready to exit amicably if the franchise fee isn't reduced. But Shri Shukla repeatedly assured our chairman... and said he will resolve the issue.
"The bank guarantee lapsed on May 2 and nobody from BCCI went for encashment. However, after our last match (May 19), BCCI representatives went to the bank the next day. Had the BCCI moved on May 2... it would have jeopardised the event."
Secretary Sanjay Jagdale, meanwhile, said in the board statement: "The governing council met with representatives of the franchisee on February 21, 2013 and received assurances that the franchisee would settle all obligations... Once the April 3, 2013 due date passed, the governing council had two letters sent to Sahara - one on April 12, 2013 and the second on April 24 2013 - requesting settlement of the overdue amount. No payment was made and no response was received to the second letter. The BCCI was forced to encash the guarantee."
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