Suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, in his reply to the third show cause notice slapped by the BCCI, has maintained that there had been no violation of the clauses of Invitation to Tender in awarding of theatrical rights in IPL-3.
“There’s neither any violation of ITT terms issued by the BCCI on the theatrical rights nor any operational precedent of BCCI or IPL was violated (in the awarding of the rights),” stated Modi’s legal counsel Mehmood Abdi on Wednesday.
Abdi said Entertainment Sports Direct won the theatrical rights for $1.40 million outbidding Triplecom Media, who had quoted $3 million whereas the base price was fixed at $0 million.
Modi’s counsel blamed BCCI secretary N Srinivasan for the considerable delay in signing of the deal though the IPL governing council had approved it on November 12, 2009.
Modi’s 50-page reply (with attachments) to the third show cause was e-mailed to the BCCI on Tuesday. The hard copy was handed over to BCCI by Abdi.
Abdi said non-signing of the agreement by Modi would have deprived Indian viewers of watching the IPL action on theatre screens and the Board would have lost a new revenue stream. — PTI