ICC orders PCB to pay 60% of BCCI legal costs in compensation case

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday ordered the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to pay 60 per cent of the amount claimed by the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) and the ICC panel, in a legal fight between the two cricket boards.

The PCB has been ordered to pay BCCI's “claimed costs…and the administrative costs and expenses of the [ICC] panel”.

"The Dispute Panel has determined that the PCB should pay 60 per cent of: "(a) the [BCCI's] Claimed Costs; and (b) the administrative costs and expenses of the Panel... (including, without limitation, the fees of the Tribunal members, and the costs and expenses they incurred in relation to this matter), the figure whereof is to be supplied to the PCB by the ICC," an ICC statement said.

Though neither party has made the total amount public, 60 per cent is understood to come out to roughly $2 million.

"The PCB notes the ICC Dispute Panel's decision on BCCI's claims for their legal expense incurred on the PCB-BCCI dispute," ICC said. "The award of significantly lesser costs than claimed by BCCI reflects that PCB's case had merits. The PCB, however, reiterates its disappointment in the original decision/award given against it."

The judgment is binding and non-appealable.

The ICC had last month dismissed PCB’s claim for compensation from BCCI over its refusal to honour an agreement to play bilateral series.

The PCB had demanded $70 million dollars in compensation from India, saying that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2014 had guaranteed six India-Pakistan bilateral series between 2015 and 2023, four of which would be hosted by Pakistan.

Responding to ICC’s decision today, the PCB said it was disappointed in the original decision as well as the award given against it.

“The award of significantly lesser costs than claimed by BCCI reflects that PCB's case had merits,” the board further said.