CHENNAI: Allowing the ongoing Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) tournament to go ahead, the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (TNOGA) not to take further action until July 16, 2025 on the orders issued to the teams to remove certain sponsor’s logos from the team jerseys.
Hearing the petitions filed by the team franchises, including the Metro Nation Television Private Limited which owns the Chepauk Super Gillies, Justice N Anand Venkatesh granted the relief stating the tournament is at an advanced stage; and so, the matches can go on.
He posted the matter to July 16 and directed the TNOGA to keep in abeyance further action pursuant to the impugned order till then.
Senior counsel PR Raman appeared for the petitioner and special government pleader Veda Bagath Singh represented the state and the home secretary and advocate Arvind Srevatsa appeared for the TNOGA.
The Metro Nation has challenged the impugned order issued on June 26 by TNOGA seeking to remove the logo of MELBAT LIVE from the team jersey, as it amounts to promoting online gambling and violation of the Tamil Nadu Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act.
The petitioner said MELBAT LIVE is an online sport news portal and the logo exclusively features the promotion of the sports news platform and do not contain any textual or visual content that could be construed as directly or indirectly promoting gambling, betting or wagering in any manner.
The impugned order has been passed without considering the Clause 3.6 of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Guidelines as well as the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Rules, 1994, the petitioner-firm said.
It prayed for the court to grant an interim stay on the impugned order because the tournament is currently in its final stage and the removal of the sponsor at this juncture would result in significant financial loss and impact the team’s operations in the ongoing tournament.