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The high was hearing an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate against the order of the tribunal that reduced the penalty imposed by the agency on the owners of the Rajasthan Royals.
The Bombay High Court has upheld the reduction of the penalty imposed on the Indian Premier League cricket franchise Rajasthan Royals from Rs. 98 Crores to Rs. 15 Crores for the violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The division bench of the high court, consisting of Justice KR Shriram and Justice Neela Gokhale was hearing an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate against the order of the tribunal that reduced the penalty imposed by the agency on the owners of the Rajasthan Royals.
“The findings are far from being perverse. Thus, no question of law arises in the case. The question raised by Appellant relating to justification of the reduction of penalty imposed by the Special Director is purely based on facts and no question of law even remotely, arises from the same,” the order stated.
In 2013, the Enforcement Directorate imposed a penalty of Rs. 98.35 crore on the team for the alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The IPL team filed an appeal against the agency's order before the tribunal, arguing that the penalty imposed was unreasonable.
The tribunal allowed the team's appeal, reducing the penalty from Rs. 98.35 crore to Rs. 15 crore.
Subsequently, the agency filed an appeal against the tribunal's order before the Bombay High Court.
The division bench of the high court, in its order, stated that the Special Director completely failed to apply the doctrine of proportionality.
“We find that the Special Director has completely failed to apply the doctrine of proportionality as interpreted and elucidated by the Apex Court in its various decisions, while choosing to impose maximum penalty on Respondents. Having gone through the impugned order, this Court does not find anything perverse in the findings, reasoning and conclusion of the Tribunal. We are in agreement with the finding of the Tribunal that in the absence of any discussion or justification pertaining to the basis for imposing the maximum penalty and juxtaposing this with the alleged acts attributed to each individual, the order of the Special Director is unsustainable,” the order reads.
Therefore, the bench proceeded to reject the appeal filed by the agency.
Case title: Special Director vs Jaipur IPL Cricket
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