The Hindu : Sport : Telecast case: HC stays single judge order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 05, 2005

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Telecast case: HC stays single judge order

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, APRIL 4. The March 21 order of a single judge, holding that the cancellation of tender process for award of telecast rights of cricket matches played in India between October 2004 and September 2008 was improper and illegal, was today stayed by the First Bench of the Madras High Court.

The Bench comprising the Chief Justice Markandey Katju and Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla granted the interim stay after admitting the writ appeals of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its former president Jagmohan Dalmiya. Ordering notices to the respondents, the Judges then posted the matter to April 20 for final hearing. Another writ appeal preferred by the Zee Telefilms Limited (ZTL) against the same shall also be clubbed with these two appeals.

When the matter came up before the Bench this morning, senior counsel for the Board, K.K. Venugopal submitted that the single judge passed the order in favour of ZTL despite its "inconsistent" stand on concluded contract. According to him, there was neither any concluded contract in favour of ZTL nor had the Board committed any act of tort entitling the ZTL to sue the Board for damages.

Mr. Venugopal said the single Judge ought to have dismissed ZTL's writ petition on the ground that it was in the realm of contract. He said if courts started setting aside illegal orders and awarding compensation there could be no end to it.

When the Chief Justice wondered if the writ was maintainable at all, and whether cricket or hockey could be held as public duty, senior counsel for ZTL, P.S. Raman, said a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had held that though the BCCI was not a State, it was doing only public duty and hence Article 226 of the Constitution could be invoked against it. Not opposing any interim order of stay, Mr. Raman said the Board should not use the interim order to conclude the contract in favour of another party.

ZTL's appeal assailed the single Judge's refusal to grant the relief as prayed for and his permission to the Board to call for fresh tender for telecast rights. During the pendency of the writ petition, an undertaking had been obtained from the Board to the effect that it would not finalise any telecast rights to any third party. "In view of the disposal of the writ petition, the Board may well call for fresh tenders any time after the conclusion of the ongoing India-Pakistan series in the third week of April," it said.

Such a conclusion of tender would cause irreparable loss and prejudice to the ZTL, especially if the ZTL finally succeeds in the appeal and get all consequential relief it is entitled to, it added.

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