IPL broadcast rights bidding may be deferred

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, eagerly awaiting a response from the Justice Rajendra-Mal Lodha panel on the appointment of an independent auditor, may not get one by October 25 as the three-member committee is not likely to meet on Monday.

The three-member panel comprising former Chief Justice of India Lodha, Ashok Bhan and RV Raveendran are based out of different cities and it looks practically impossible that they would be meeting on Monday with a day left for opening of bidding for broadcast, mobile and internet rights for the Indian Premier League.

The panel was supposed to meet on October 21 but that was later cancelled.

"The BCCI while floating the tender and announcing the date never consulted with the committee and now that's coming to bite them. And also it's still two years to go. What's the hurry? The panel will be meeting and asking for all the documents and then coming to a decision. It will take some time as a lot of things needs to be checked," a source close to the panel said on Sunday.

The BCCI is getting edgy at the moment as a lot of the representatives from the 18 international bidders who have bought the ITT documents will have their travel and business schedule in disarray.

"It was a process where our auditors (Deloitte), legal firm (Amarchand) along with two independent faces from the global media industry would be vetting the tenders, looking into all the aspects. The BCCI bigwigs will only be spectators. Our only job is to announce the names as it is an independent process. If we don't get any response, we don't know what to do," a senior BCCI source said.

If the BCCI go ahead with the bidding process, it could lead to the contempt of court and it may be safe to assume that the tender process for media rights in all likelihood will be deferred.

Photograph: BCCI