NEW DELHI: Jagmohan Dalmiya, the most powerful man in Indian cricket, had reason to celebrate today. The Supreme Court, in a ruling delivered this morning, directed the the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take urgent measures to put in place the elected team headed by Ranbir Singh Mahendra, Dalmiya's candidate for the top post.
The apex court did, however put a little spoke in Dalmiya's wheel when it refused to vacate a ruling by the Madras High Court that had put a stay on the Board's "invitation" to Dalmiya to become its patron-in-chief.
The apex court directed the BCCI to convene immediately the incomplete AGM of 29 September, 2004 so that the adjourned meeting could be concluded and the tenure of the old board headed by Dalmia would come to an end and the new panel of members could take charge of the affairs of the board.
However, the apex court left open the issue of the legality of the elections in which Mahendra defeated Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar by a slender margin of one vote, that too by the casting vote of Dalmia himself, the Press Trust of India reported.
The Court said "it would still be open for the aggrieved party to question the legality or validity of the September 29 meeting." A bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde and Justice S B Sinha made absolute its 11 October, 2004 interim order staying a Madras High Court order appointing Justice S Mohan as the interim administrator of BCCI for the purpose of elections of the body.
However, it kept silent on the interim order it passed on that day restraining Dalmiya from becoming the patron-in-chief of the board, merely noticing that there was a stay operating on this issue from a Chennai Court.
SC TAGS ESS PLEA ALONGSIDE TEN SPORTS Vs DD CASE
The Supreme Court today issued notices to Prasar Bharti and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on a petition filed by ESPN challenging a Kerala High Court judgement directing it to share its live feeds for the Indo-Bangladesh cricket series with Doordarshan.
The Court said as the event is over, there is no need of an interim order and directed the matter to be tagged along with the petition filed by Ten Sports wherein similar relief was sought against Doordarshan for the India-Pakistan series last year, PTI reported.
Indiantelevision.com's efforts to contact Prasar Bharati officials proved futile and Trai said that it would respond to the apex court's notice through proper channels.
The court, however, was silent on the fact whether a final judgment on the Ten Sports-DD case is likely to be announced soon or not. The court is hearing a clutch of cricket-related cases.
