The Delhi High Court granted urgent interim relief to a team participating in “Legends League Cricket” observing that it is completely incongruous to retrospectively change the result of the cricket match in the guise of rectifying a scoring mistake.

The Court was hearing a petition seeking urgent relief under Section 9 of the Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996 under which courts can deliver interim measures.

The Single judge Bench of Justice Sachin Datta said: "Teams and players respond to the challenges presented at different stages of the match by adapting themselves to the requirement at that particular time, as perceived by them, based on the situation reflected in the official scoreboard. Given this reality, it is completely incongruous to retrospectively change the result of the match in the guise of rectifying a scoring mistake..."

Advocates Rishi Awasthi and Piyush Vatla appeared for the petitioner.

The case pertains to a scoring error at a cricket match of the Legend League Cricket tournament held in September this year. The issue was referred to the Event Technical Committee of the league to resolve the dispute. The technical committee retrospectively fixed the scoring error.

The committee acknowledged that its decision was regardless of the rules and cited “commitment to fair play” as a guiding factor. The match was declared a tie, despite the rules saying that the result once declared cannot be changed. The Apex Council of the league upheld the decision of the technical committee.

The High Court agreed with the petitioner's submission that “commitment to fair play” could not justify disregarding the rules and changing the result of the match. “On the contrary, the ‘commitment to fair play’ requires that the rules be scrupulously followed,” the Court said.

“Ironically, the rules have been disregarded in the guise of ‘the spirit of the game’”, which, the Court said, itself undermined the spirit of the game.

The Bench imposed an interim stay on the decision of the Apex Council and the technical committee till the next date of hearing. The points tally of the league will be calculated according to the result originally declared.

Cause Title: Mriksha Corporation v. Absolute Legend Sports Pvt. Ltd. And Anr. [O.M.P. (I) (COMM) 357/2024]

Appearance: Advocates Rishi Awasthi, Piyush Vatla, Avinash Ankit, Rahul Raj Mishra and Rahul Kumar Gupta

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High Courts

Tushar Kohli