TITLE : The special director V Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd
CORAM : Hon’ble Justice K.R Shriram and Hon’ble Justice Dr. Neela Gokhale
DATE : 13th December, 2023
CITATION : FEMA Appeal no.1 of 2020
FACTS
These appeals are filed under Section 35 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 under the order passed by the authority of FEMA. The quantum of total penalty imposed upon the appellants which was 98.35 crores was reduced to 15 crores only. After receiving certain information, it was observed that the there was large scale irregularities in the conduct and functioning of the IPL and its franchises. In the process of bidding a certain media house submitted a bid of Rs.268 crores for a team at Jaipur and subsequently only 20 crores of it was transferred. The rest was supposed to be paid by a bidder from Mauritius. 9 Cr were transferred through foreign investments by the bidder. On the other hand, RBI refused to transfer shares from to the bidder as the person was outside India. The respondents were held to be violating the provisions of Section 6(3)(b) of FEMA and Regulation 5(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000 and paragraph 8 of Schedule I further read with Regulation 5 of Foreign Exchange Management (Permissible Capital Account Transactions) Regulations, 2000.
LAWS INVOLVED
Section 6(3)(b) of FEMA states that the RBI Can restrict the transfer of certain securities and also regulate them.
Regulation 5(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000 provides for the permissions that is required to allow a person outside India to make investments.
“A person resident outside India may subscribe, purchase or sell capital instruments of an Indian company in the manner and subject to the terms and conditions specified in Schedule 1.”
ISSUES
- Whether the reduction of money to 15 crores valid?
JUDGEMENT
The court dismissed the appeal on the ground that there is nothing perverse in the tribunal order to reduce the amount to Rs.15 cr. By applying the doctrine of proportionality, the court agreed with the order of reducing the penalty amount.
Under Section 35 of the FEMA, an Appeal will lie only in regard to a question of law arising out of such order as appealed against and in the present case the there is no question of law proved by the appellant.
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Written by- Sanjana Ravichandran
