After the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC) sent former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar a recovery notice asking him to pay Rs100 million in damages and reimburse three months’ salary for violating clauses of their contract, he stated that he “will not give up and fight this legal battle”
As per the recovery notice sent to Akhtar, the PTVC stated that it had been fulfilling its side of the commitments made in an agreement with the former cricketer in January 2019. However, Akhtar’s “conduct towards official requirements according to the binding clauses of referred agreement has not only been observed as casual, but a total violation of the agreement,” it added.
The notice stated that Akhtar had agreed to “remain associated exclusively with PTV Sports and not appear or engage with any other television network within the Pakistan territory”.
The notice stated that according to the agreement, Akhtar was bound to appear on PTV’s World Cup transmission “Game On Hai” which started on Oct 17. However, he had only made two out of 36 required appearances so far.
“Due to your above stated acts and conducts, PTV has suffered a lot and sustained huge financial losses on account of losses of sponsorship, erosion of organisation’s reputation etc.”
Akhtar had also left for the T20 World Cup being held in the UAE without informing the management of PTV Sports and appeared on a show with former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh which caused “irreparable losses to PTV“.
The notice added that Akhtar violated the agreement by appearing on two shows, after not appearing on PTV citing health issues, while he continued to demand enhancement in his monthly income up to Rs1.8m.
The notice directed Akhtar to pay Rs100m in damages as well as Rs3,333,000 — amounting to three months’ salary — otherwise PTVC reserved its rights to file a suit against him.
The notice further said that Akhtar had violated the terms of the agreement by not submitting a written notice three months prior. The move had also caused “huge financial losses to PTV“, it added.
Akhtar in a tweet on Sunday night, said he was “utterly disappointed” by the notice.
He vowed to continue the legal fight, adding that his lawyer Salman Khan Niazi would take the matter forward in accordance with the law.
“After miserably failing to safeguard my respect & repute while I was working for PTV, they have now sent me a Recovery Notice.”
