BCCI is a 'shop,' provisions of ESI Act applicable: Supreme Court

The activities of the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI are commercial in nature and can be termed as a shop for the purposes of attracting the provisions of the Employees State Insurance Act the Supreme Court has saidThe top court said ESI Act is welfare legislation enacted by the Centre and a narrow meaning should not be attached to the words used in the Act as it seeks to insure the employees of covered establishments against various risks to their life health and wellbeing and places the charge upon the employerA bench of Justices M R Shah and P S Narasimha said no error has been committed by the ESI Court andor the High Court in treating and considering the BCCI as a shop for applicability of the ESI ActConsidering the systematic activities being carried out by the BCCI namely selling of tickets of cricket matches providing entertainment rendering the services for a price receiving the income from international tours and the income from the Indian Premier League the ESI Court as well as the High Court have rightly concluded that the BCCI is carrying out systematic economic commercial activities and therefore the BCCI can be said to be shop for the purposes of attracting the provisions of ESI Act the bench saidAlso Read Supreme Court rejects PIL seeking fresh probe into Rafale dealThe top court was dealing with the question of whether the BCCI can be said to be a shop as per the notification dated September 18 1978 and if the provisions of the ESI Act shall be applicable to the BCCI or notThe Bombay High Court had said that BCCI is covered within the meaning of shop as per notification dated September 18 1978 issued by the Government of Maharashtra under the provisions of Section 15 of the Employees State Insurance Act 1948The top court said the term shop should not be understood and interpreted in its traditional sense as the same would not serve the purpose of the ESI ActIt said an expansive meaning may be assigned to the word shop for the purposes of the ESI ActThe apex court said submission on behalf of the BCCI that its predominant activity is to encourage cricketsports and therefore the same shall not be brought within the definition of shop for the purposes of applying the ESI Act has no substanceIt is also required to be noted that while holding so the High Court has also taken into consideration the relevant clauses of the Memorandum of Association of the BCCI to come to the conclusion that the activities of the BCCI can be said to be systematic commercial activities providing entertainment by selling tickets etc The Memorandum of Association as a whole is required to be consideredIn view of the above and for the reasons stated above we see no reason to interfere with the impugned judgement and order passed by the High Court as well as the ESI Court As such we are in complete agreement with the view taken by the High Court The special leave petitions stand dismissed accordingly the bench saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever