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Informist, Tuesday, Jun. 2, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has rejected JioStar India Pvt. Ltd's insolvency plea against Absolute Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd., operator of Legends Cricket League, for dus of INR 35.91 million and undeposited tax deducted at source arising out of performance of contractual obligations and applicable laws. JioStar India is a joint venture company formed by Reliance Industries Ltd. and The Walt Disney Company.

 

The tribunal said that the media rights agreements shown by JioStar India suffered from material deficiencies. The agreements are not duly executed between the parties, and the execution date, as contemplated therein, remains undefined, the tribunal said. The ambiguity surrounding the execution, coupled with the absence of proper signatures and clarity as to when the agreements came into force, raises serious doubts as to whether these documents were contemporaneously executed or subsequently created to retrospectively characterise past transactions as "services" so as to bring them within the ambit of operational debt, said the tribunal.

 

The tribunal said that prima facie, there is a concern regarding the genuineness of JioStar India's claims and an impression is created that the proceedings may have been initiated with a view to precipitate insolvency against Absolute Legends. However, without delving further into the contention of any alleged staged or managed initiation of insolvency, the tribunal finds it sufficient to note that the present petition, in substance, appears to be an attempt to recover outstanding dues, it said. The surrounding circumstances indicate that the agreements have been relied upon primarily to facilitate recovery of alleged dues, rather than to evidence a genuine operational relationship giving rise to a legally enforceable operational debt, it said.

 

The initiation of insolvency cannot be permitted to be used as a substitute for debt enforcement or recovery proceedings, said the tribunal. In the present case, JioStar India through the instant petition, seeks recovery of its dues pertaining to the years 2023, 2024 and onwards, which falls outside the scope and object of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, it said.

 

JioStar India and Absolute Legends entered into a media rights agreement and an agreement for airtime sale in 2024 in relation to media rights for the 2023–2025 franchise editions and the 2025 regional edition of the Legends League Cricket Masters T20 tournament. Under the agreements, Absolute Legends granted JioStar India exclusive television, digital, and ancillary rights in respect of the league, subject to the terms therein. Further, JioStar India agreed to provide Absolute Legends with free commercial airtime during live transmissions of the league across its channels. Further, JioStar India undertook to produce unilateral commentary in Hindi for the 2023 franchise edition of the league, and in regional language as mutually agreed between the parties for the 2024 franchise edition. However, JioStar India alleged that Absolute Legends did not pay its dues, against which the petitioner moved the tribunal.

 

On Tuesday, the shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. ended 0.4% lower at INR 1,314.60 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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