SC plays role of umpire on controversies

Televisionpoint.com Team
As Indian cricket often faced high drama off the field throughout 2005, the Supreme Court was called in to play the role of umpire to resolve controversies relating to the administration of the sports' richest body, telecast rights or other facets of the most popular game in the country.

The fall of the Dalmiya faction from power in BCCI or the Delhi ODI watched by Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf or the telecast of various series involving India, all were mired in controversies and had to pass the scrutiny of the apex court. Against the backdrop of the power struggle for control of BCCI, the apex court deplored the way in which the most-loved sport of the country was run observing that the controversy relating to its election was a 'fight of ego'.

It was more disturbing for the Supreme Court as three of its former judges, including two Chief Justices of India, Justice K. Singh and Justice M.M. Punchi, were dragged into the unsavoury episode which also saw another judge, Justice S.C. Sen in an embarrassing situation after it was alleged that he had spoken to a member of particular faction before the AGM.

The court preferred to keep the judges away from the crossfire of the politics of cricket board and appointed former chief election commissioner T S Krishnamurthy as observer to the BCCI election. Krishnamurthy not only completed his task but came out with the ills of the BCCI's constitution suggesting its 'thorough review' as it suffers from several ambiguities and infirmities. For Dalmiya, the first jolt was in the beginning of the year when the apex court made absolute its last year's interim order restraining him from becoming the 'patron-in-chief' of BCCI.

The year 2005 was historic for Indian cricket as the apex court decided the crucial question regarding the autonomy of BCCI by holding that the cricket board was not a 'state' within the meaning of the Constitution and it could not be sued in a court for alleged violation of fundamental rights. The vexed issue had come during the hearing of a petition filed by Zee telefilms ltd against the board for cancellation of its bid for telecast rights of all cricket matches played in India for a period of four year. Though Zee failed to establish that BCCI was a 'state', the apex court clarified that the judgement did not mean that sports bodies could get away with whatever irregularities committed by them.