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 ruled.

The top court said the ESI Act is a welfare legislation enacted by the Centre and a narrow meaning should not be attached to the words used in the law as it seeks to insure the employees of covered establishments against various risks to their life, health, and well-being and places the charge upon the employer.

A bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice PS Narasimha said no error has been committed by the ESI Court and/or the high court in treating and considering the BCCI as a “shop” for applicability of the ESI Act.

“Considering 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 said.

Bombay High Court had ruled that the BCCI is covered within the meaning of “shop” as per a notification dated September 18, 1978, issued by the Government of Maharashtra under the provisions of Section 1(5) of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948.