Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi on Tuesday ruled out lifting the salary cap on the franchisees from the second edition of the Twenty20 extravaganza.

Modi said in a statement that the players are legally bound by their three-year contract with their respective franchisees and they have to abide by that.

"The three-year contractual clause was made public to both the franchisees and players prior to the auction and the player's participation.

"All the parties will abide by the terms and conditions laid down by the governing council and it is only up to the franchisee to trade a player/players as and when the trading window opens next year," Modi said.

Presently, each of the eight franchisees can spend a maximum of USD five million for its squad, and players like Ricky Ponting [Images] has already opposed such moved, fearing it would lead to uneven contests.

The release said the players are bound by the contractual agreements signed with franchisees for a period of three years and new guidelines would be out soon before the transfer window opens early next year.

"...the DLF Indian Premier League [Images] will issue a fresh set of guidelines on the player transfer protocols for the next season keeping in mind the transfer window," the release said.

"It would however, be the prerogative of the franchisee alone to take a decision to trade a player/players, when the trading window opens in the early part of 2009 just prior to the second season of the DLF Indian Premier League," it added.