Ministry faces probe for ‘ignoring’ inaugural T20 world cup

The CVC will probe the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s decision not to telecast the inaugural Twenty-20 cricket World Cup in 2007 in South Africa, terming the new format of the game as paijama cricket, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Sep 22, 2009, 02:31:40 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) will probe the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s decision not to telecast the inaugural Twenty-20 cricket World Cup in 2007 in South Africa, terming the new format of the game as paijama cricket.

The ministry advised Doordarshan (DD) to ignore the tournament, held from September 11-24, 2007, which resulted in a financial loss to the national broadcaster.

On average, DD earns around Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) from such tournaments under the 75:25 revenue-sharing arrangement — stipulated by the law — in favour of the sports broadcasters, which hold the exclusive telecast rights for the events.

“An inquiry has been initiated and comments of the ministry has been sought,” said Pratyush Sinha, Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India. The probe decision follows a Delhi High Court direction in July 2009.

A month before the event in 2007, E S Isaac, then director (sports) in DD, asked the public broadcaster’s standing counsel in the Supreme Court, Rajeev Sharma, whether it can broadcast the T-20 World Cup under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007.

Although T-20 cricket was not mentioned in the law, Sharma said the T-20 World Cup was definitely a sporting event of national importance. So, ESPN, which held exclusive global telecast rights, should share it with Prasar Bharati.

Just seven days before the event, the ministry overruled the legal opinion, saying the law only covered one-day international matches, and not T-20 matches.

It advised Prasar Bharati: “Twenty-20 cricket is a new form of experimental cricket for entertainment akin to paijama cricket. The Prasar Bharati is advised not to waste prime time for the live telecast of such 20-over matches of cricket, the popularity of which is yet to be established.”

A senior CVC official, who refused to be identified, said the inquiry would focus on whether the revenue loss was deliberate. After the inaugural tournament, however, the ministry amended the law to bring T-20 tournaments under the revenue-sharing arrangement.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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