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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, May 14: By the time the marathon case hearing was over, the only question asked outside the Bombay High Court was, “Will we get to see the telecast?”. The question referred to the telecast of the World Cup Cricket that began from today, on Doordarshan. The reassuring answer was, yes’.
Nimbus Communication today established itself as the sole marketing agency for the telecast of the lucrative World Cup Cricket on Doordarshan (DD). Nimbus steps in the shoes of Stracon India Ltd following an earlier Bombay HC order which said that if Stracon which had promised DD a minimum revenue of Rs 14.5 crore, failed to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 30.81 crore to DD by May 5, the contract would be given to Nimbus.
Counsel for Nimbus, Jai Chinai on May 8th obtained an order from Justice S Radhakrishnan directing that Nimbus be given the contract. The last date for completing the formalities with DD was May 12th according to this order. However, with the contract not signed till the last date, Chinai moved the court of Justice Gokhale on Thursday for an extension of time.
In the courtroom of Justice Gokhale, Chinai today informed that Nimbus had already furnished the bank guarantee of Rs 30.56 crore that it had to give DD and had also paid Rs 26 crore to DD to be forwarded to the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for telecast rights.
With this, Nimbus has assured DD of a minimum revenue of Rs 77 crore and a profit sharing ratio of 70:30 between DD and the marketing company. DD has been assured of a minimum income of Rs 14.25 crore.
However, in a public interest litigation (PIL) against the dealings of DD with both Stracon and Nimbus filed by a lawyer, Nivit Srivastav, Justice Gokhale directed that Nimbus make a statement on the income and expenditure of the revenue collected as of June 5th, on June 7th in a sealed cover addressed to the prothonotary and senior master of the Bombay HC. Justice Gokhale then adjourned the hearing of the PIL matter to June 7th when the regular court restarts after vacation, where the Chief Justice’s court would look into the matter. With the sealed cover available the Chief Justice could go through the statement if required.
Srivastav has in his PIL alleged that granting of sole marketing rights to Stracon and Nimbus is creating a monopoly in the hands of a few was violative of the fundamental rights of the citizens of India since many other marketing agencies were kept out of the bidding process for this World Cup. The PIL had prayed for a CBI enquiry into the circumstances by which the rights were awarded to the two companies.
Counsel for Srivastava suggested that Nimbus should be directed to open a separate bank account for the transactions regarding the World Cup and deposit an amount in the court. Chinai argued that following the contract with DD, Nimbus was obliged to open a separate bank account and had to give the details of the dealings to DD. He also argued that it would be difficult to deposit any amount since the account would be used for paying the liabilities of the marketing agencies as well.
Justice Gokhale agreed with Chinai and in his order, without admitting the petition, said that “it was not advisable at this moment to put these fetters on the agency”. He also adjourned it to June 7th since he noted that the World Cup would be continuing till June 20th. “There is no reason for stopping the telecast, the telecast must go on,” he said.
Stracon meanwhile has also filed a contempt case against Nimbus claiming that the agency has not deposited Rs 26 crore with DD as yet.
