New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed, with a cost of Rs 25,000, a plea which challenged auctioning and selling of cricket players as part of Indian Premier League (IPL), saying the petition was filed only for publicity.
The plea sought direction to scrap or nullify the practice and declare the “system of bidding/auctioning /selling of international player for the name of game as illegal”.
The court said no question of sale or purchase of a human being arises here and this was not a public interest litigation at all, rather it was a ‘Publicity Interest Litigation’.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and C Hari Shankar said the allegation of sale or auction as mentioned in the petition is ‘derogatory to national players’.
The petition filed by Delhi resident Sudhir Sharma had sought action against the offenders, including team owners, for allegedly violating law.
The bench said it is not a case of auctioning of players at all in the games like cricket, kabaddi and it is only for publicity that the name of players are used here.
“We are dismissing the petition with a cost of Rs 25,000 to be deposited with the Juvenile Justice fund within six weeks. The amount be used for welfare of children which are mentioned as duty of the state…,” the bench said.
It added that only those PILs should be allowed which are really in public interest.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioner said that sale, purchase or auction of players is not permissible, still it is going on for 12 years in IPL. There is no provision in law which says that a person can be purchased.
The petition had arrayed as parties the ministries of Home Affairs, Law and Social Justice, Youth Affairs and Sports and Information and Broadcasting, BCCI, IPL administration and committee. It had also made the 10 IPL teams, through their owners, as parties to the plea.
It said the plea had been filed to highlight the alleged violation of rights for “having failed to regulate, ban, stop and curb the menace of human biding, selling through auctioning, vis-a-vis players in utter irrational, illegal manner with unreasonable, arbitrary, reckless, unbridled, highly irresponsible attitude and working of respondents no.5 to 17 (IPL adminstration and teams) which promote corruption, nepotism and human trafficking by selling of players through open bidding on national televisions by broadcasting on almost all the channels and other media platforms and also on print media.”
The plea alleged that the government machinery and enforcing agencies, including the ministries concerned and BCCI, are indifferent and silent spectators to this illegal act.
The petition had also referred to game of Pro Kabaddi, saying in it too, the sale and purchase of humans takes place on TV channels.
“The rich people, corporate and companies buy players through bidding process in public sale where corporate and companies offer bids for the goods (that is, players) and try to outbid each other and ultimately, the goods (players) are sold to the highest bidders (that is, the rich people, corporate and companies),” the plea claimed.
“Along with goods sold (i.e. the players) the agents, that is, (BCCI and IPL etc.) are getting huge money in more than 1000 of crore of rupees, and also international currency abroad, and is a big source of money laundering etc. and in making a huge gap of rich and poor and accumulating money through this illegal act of human bidding, selling and auctioning etc,” the plea had claimed.
PTI