Supreme Court seeks board reply over IPL tender process

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of BCCI on a plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking e-auctioning of media rights of the Indian Premier League.
Screen grab of the closing ceremony of VIVO IPL 2017.
Screen grab of the closing ceremony of VIVO IPL 2017.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of BCCI on a plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking e-auctioning of media rights of the Indian Premier League. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar asked the BCCI to file its reply within two weeks and slated the hearing for August 22 before the tender process concludes.
Swamy said that e-auction of the media rights should be done to ensure transparency, as it is to be given for the next five years.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the board, said that the tender process has been approved by Vinod Rai, chairman of the apex court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA).

Singhvi said the e-auction process was not possible as the auction process has already started and will conclude next month and that the court should not interfere with the process.
Swamy had referred to the apex court verdicts to buttress his point that auctioning is the best method of awarding contracts.

During the arguments, Swamy stressed that e-auctioning is the best way and said that IPL media rights was to the tune of `30,000 crore and the issue should not be decided in an opaque manner. “It is a requirement that transparent method with the best international practices must be adopted for distribution of the valuable media rights so as to ensure the maximum revenue in the larger national interest.”

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