India cricket court case adjourned until tomorrow

The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN-Star Sports (ESS) and the Centre on a petition filed by ZEE Telefilms Ltd challenging the cancellation of award of cricket match telecast rights to it. The three-judge bench, headed by Justice N Santosh Hegde, referred the matter to a five-judge constitution bench, noting the important constitutional provisions and questions raised by ZEE TV.

The court said the constitution bench will hear the matter tomorrow. ZEE TV said the board has entered in a malafide manner to cancel the award of telecast rights to it and alleged that the entire drama before the Bombay High Court was enacted to benefit one foreign sports channel.

BCCI said the high court litigation would have taken a long time and therefore in the interest of the game it decided to cancel the contract awarded to ZEE. The board said now Prasar Bharati will telecast the India-Australia and India-South Africa series domestically and international telecast rights will be given to “somebody else”.