NEW DELHI: A PIL clearly timed with the upcoming cricket World Cup in England has been admitted by the Delhi High Court. Not to the liking of Vaibhav Jain, the petitioner, however. Why? Because arguments in the case will be heard only after ICC’s blue riband event is done and dusted.
A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice AJ Bhambhani on Friday issued notice to the Centre, Prasar Bharti and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seeking their respective responses on a PIL challenging a provision of the Sports Act that restricts transmission of live broadcast of sporting events of national importance by Prasar Bharti to its terrestrial and DTH networks.
The court, however, declined Jain’s request for an early hearing and listed the matter on July 22, saying there was no urgency. Jain’s lawyers had sought an early hearing in view of the World Cup runs from May 30 to July 14.
Coming to Jain’s PIL. His contention is that the restriction defeats the purpose of the Sports Act – which is to enable everyone to access such sporting events free of cost, IANS reports.
The petition has sought setting aside of section 3(1) of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act of 2007, also known as the Sports Act, to the extent it restricts retransmission of live broadcasting of sporting events of national importance by Doordarshan (DD) to its terrestrial and Direct-to-Home (DTH) networks.
The plea has claimed that the restriction defeats the entire purpose behind enacting the Sports Act as the provision under challenge is against public interest.
Jain has contended that section 3(1) of the Act prevents citizens from freely accessing sporting events of national importance on any other digital platform except the terrestrial and DTH networks of DD.
He has further said that the citizens cannot stream the sporting events on their laptops, computers or mobile phones free of cost, despite having internet or data facilities.
