PCB v BCCI: Start of a big legal battle

Pakistan seeks $ 70m from India as compensation

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Thursday, formally initiated a legal battle against the Board of Control for Cricket in India by filing a compensation claim of $ 70 million before the ICC for not honouring a bilateral cricket series agreement.

The PCB has sent a Notice of Dispute to the International Cricket Council, requesting the world body's Disputes Resolution Committee to take up the matter with the Indian Cricket Board for failing to play two series in 2014 and 2015 as part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the two boards.

“We want that the ICC committee now start all legal procedures to arbitrate on our compensation claim," a top PCB official said.

The PCB had initiated proceedings in May this year, when it sent a dispute notice to the BCCI. But the Indian officials had not responded to the notice.

"Since the BCCI has not responded, we have consulted our legal advisors and filed the claim with the ICC committee," the official said.

The ICC disputes resolution committee is headed by Michael Beloff QC and includes code of commission representatives, Mike Heron QC and Justice Winston Anderson.

"The ICC has received a Notice of Dispute from the PCB's lawyers, which will be forwarded to the Chairman of the Dispute Resolutions Committee next week," an ICC spokesman said.

The committee will also have independent lawyers from Africa, Americas, Europe and Asia, besides the ICC chief of the audit committee, Ethics officer and Management support.

The PCB said it has allocated around one million pounds to cover the legal costs of the compensation claim.

The BCCI's stance has been that all bilateral matches with Pakistan are governed and subject to clearance from the government.

The Indian board insisted that since they didn't get government clearance they could not play with Pakistan.