MUMBAI: In a relief to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), the Bombay High Court recently allowed it to proceed with conducting T20 Mumbai League matches without including the team Shivaji Park Lions, whose contract was terminated in 2020 for allegedly defaulting on payments. The MCA conceptualised a local cricket league within Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, and Thane in February 2018, titled the T20 Mumbai League.Jupicos Entertainment Private Limited filed an arbitration petition before the HC against Probability Sports (India) Pvt Ltd, MCA, and others. It claimed its team, Shivaji Park Lions, was arbitrarily terminated and appealed against an April 2025 single judge bench order of the HC that declined to grant it any relief. Jupicos participated in two editions until 2019. It was almost four years later that the entire outstanding payments were made by Jupicos to Probability Sports in January 2024. Jupicos has already invoked the arbitration clause, and therefore the remedy of claiming damages, in case the termination notice is found arbitrary, is available to it, said the HC division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice MS Karnik in a March 7 judgment.“Knowing fully well that MCA excluded Jupicos from participating in the meetings since April 2024, the arbitration petition seeking interim measures was filed as late as on 28 March 2025 on the eve of the auction,’’ the HC also noted and added, “This belated approach is another factor, as rightly held by the learned single judge, to deny the discretionary relief in favour of Jupicos.’’The disputes are in the realm of contractual ones, the HC observed after hearing senior counsel Vivek Tankha with Atishay Jain for Jupicos, Amrut Joshi and Rajani Associates for Probability Sports, and senior counsel Ashish Kamat with SK Legal Asso for MCA. The HC held that, on facts and circumstances, the order of a single judge—which was being challenged by Jupicos on grounds of discrimination in comparison with other team owners—cannot be considered “arbitrary, capricious, or perverse to warrant interference.’’ The single judge had noted the delay of five years in challenging the termination.MCA had invited bids in February 2018 to secure the rights to operate a team to participate in the first five editions of the League. A participation agreement dated 9 March 2018 was executed between Jupicos and Probability Sports, under which Jupicos had the right to operate the team “Shivaji Park Lions” for the first five editions of the League. Citing default in payment by Jupicos, Probability Sports in 2020 issued the termination notice. Jupicos said in January 2024 it paid up its dues and sought revocation of the termination notice, and when excluded for the first time from League meetings in April 2024, it invoked the dispute resolution clause in May 2024, hence arguing that there was no delay on its part to seek arbitration.“In our opinion, merely because Jupicos was allowed to attend the meetings after the year 2021 is not enough to indicate that the notice of termination was not acted upon. The conduct of Jupicos in requesting Probability Sports to withdraw the termination notice after it cleared its outstanding in January 2024 is indicative of the fact that the termination notice was acted upon, and this was to the knowledge of Jupicos,’’ the HC judgment said, dismissing its appeal.