M A I N   N E W S

HC notice to ICC on sponsorship

New Delhi, January 17
Eight eminent cricket lovers, including former India cricket captain Kapil Dev, today filed a petition in the Delhi High Court urging the central government to step in and resolve the lingering World Cup sponsorship controversy.

The petition, filed before a bench of acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and B.D. Ahmed, urged the government not to release the foreign exchange for the World Cup as “80 per cent” of sponsorship revenue would come from India for the tournament starting in South Africa on February 8.

The judges issued notices, returnable on Tuesday, to the central government, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the International Cricket Council Limited (ICC), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the eight sponsors.

The main point of contention is the clash of the lucrative personal endorsement deals of some of the top Indian cricketers with those of the tournament sponsors.

The ICC recently threatened to debar the Indian team from the World Cup if the BCCI failed to field the best team for the tournament.

The BCCI is bound by the ICC’s Participating Nations Agreement (PNA), according to which each of the 14 participating teams must field their best possible teams for the eighth edition of the World Cup.

The BCCI had signed PNA without the knowledge of the players.

The Players’ Terms prohibit cricketers from endorsing products of a rival of the official sponsors, who have been given unprecedented powers including the right to use players’ images for six months after the tournament.

The Indian players recently signed the Players’ terms to meet the January 14 deadline, but they struck out the contentious clauses.

The ICC contracts committee is to meet this weekend to take a decision on the Indians’ contracts.

The participating countries would get a share of the sponsorship revenues that are largely generated through Indian sponsors — Hero Honda, Pepsi and LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd. South African Airways is the other sponsor.

The petition, whose signatories include former BCCI president and federal minister N.K.P. Salve and former West Bengal Governor Siddharth Shankar Ray, has said that if the Indian team was debarred from playing, the faith of the Indian public would be shaken.

While issuing notices, the bench observed: “Without India’s participation, the World Cup would be a flop.”

The petition asked the court not to render any other benefits to any Indian sponsor if the Indian players are disqualified or debarred from participating in the World Cup.