The Secretary, Ministry Of ... vs Cricket Association Of Bengal & ... on 9 February, 1995
54. It is then necessary to understand the nature of the respondent Organisation, namely, CAB. It
cannot be disputed that the BCCI is a non-profit making Organisation which controls officially
organised game of cricket in India. Similarly, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is also non- profit
making Organisation which controls officially organised game of cricket in the State of West Bengal.
The CAB is one of the Founder Members of BCCI. Office bearers and Members of the Working
Committees of both BCCI and CAB are all citizens of India. The primary object of both the
organisations, amongst others, is to promote the game of cricket, to foster the spirit of
sportsmanship and the ideals of cricket, and to impart education through the media of cricket, and
for achieving the said objects, to organise and stage tournaments and matches either with the
members of International Cricket Council (ICC) or other organisations. According to CAB, BCCI is
perhaps the only sports- organisation in India which cams foreign exchange and is neither
controlled by any Governmental agency nor receives any financial assistance or grants, of
whatsoever nature.
55. It cannot be disputed further that to arrange any international cricket tournament or series. it is
necessary and a condition-precedent, to pay to the participating member countries or teams, a
minimum guaranteed amount in foreign exchange and to bear expenses incurred for travelling,
boarding, lodging and other daily expenses for the participating cricketeers and the concerned
accompanying visiting officials. A huge amount of expenses has also to be incurred for organising
the matches. In addition, both BCCI and CAB annually incur large amount of expenses for giving
subsidies and grants to its members to maintain, de- velop and upgrade the infrastructure, to coach
and train players and umpires, and to pay to them when the series and matches are played.
56.Against this background, we may now examine the questions of law raised by the parties. The
contention of the Min- istry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is that there is a difference
between the implications of the right conferred under Article 19 [1] (a) upon [i] the broadcaster i.e.
the person operating the media, [ii] the person desiring access to the media to project his views
including the organiser of an event, [iii] the viewer and [iv] a person seeking uplinking of
frequencies so as to telecast signals generated in India to other countries. The contention of CAB
that denial of a license to telecast through a media of its choice, based [according to NM] upon the
commercial interests, infringes viewers' right under Article 19 [1] (a) is untenable. It is further
contended that the commercial interests of the organizer are not protected by Article 19 [1] (a).
However, the contention of the CAB results indirectly in such protection being sought by resort to
the following steps of reasoning : [a] the, Board has a right to commercially exploit the event to the
maximum, [b] the viewer has a right to access to the event through the television. Hence the Board
has the right to telecast through an appropriate channel and also the right to insist, that a private
agency including a foreign agency, should be allowed all the sanctions and permissions as may be
necessary therefor.
57.According to NUB the aforesaid contention is untenable because even if it is assumed that
entertainment is a part of free speech, the analogy of the right of the press under Article 19 [1] (a)
vis-a-vis the right under Article 19 [1]
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