Supreme court moved by BJP leader, seeking e-auctioning of IPL
- BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, submitted a plea to Apex Court for e-auctioning the media rights.
- Swamy said there is huge money involved in seeking media rights which has to be transparent.
- Responding to his plea, sitting bench said, "We will think over it".
FollowSeeking e-auctioning of media rights for the Indian Premier League, the Supreme Court was moved by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday.
Responding to his plea, a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said, "We will think over it".
"This petition prays that the distribution of IPL Rights which is scheduled on 17 July, 2017 should be done in the most transparent mode available that is via E-Auction," the petition said.
Swamy alleged that there was a consistent attempt of vested parties to try and build a monopoly by getting the above valuable rights in a non-transparent manner.
"Huge money is involved amounting to Rs 25,000-30,000 crore in the valuable rights associated with the game of cricket in India, which makes it mandatory to have the auction process robust, completely transparent in order to maximise the revenue and prevent vested interest from making undue gains," Swamy said.
Referring to Justice R M Lodha committee recommendations, the plea said that the panel made strong comments about the BCCI tender process and the methods previously adopted by cricket administrators of BCCI in granting licenses in relation to media and television rights.
"No standard norms and objective criteria or procedures have been established for the distribution of the valuable rights associated with the game of cricket and selection or engagement of the rights holders."
"Lodha Committee has found that clear principles of transparency should be laid down, and BCCI's website and office should carry all rules, regulations and office orders of the BCCI in this regard, and there should be full transparency of all tenders floated and bids invited by or on behalf of the BCCI," it said.
