The row over cricket telecast rights took an interesting turn on Thursday in the Bombay High Court when another Indian broadcaster unexpectedly came up with an intervening application, which sought to focus on the ‘‘foreign’’ origins of ESPN-Star Sports (ESS).The petition for SABe TV was filed by former Union minister Ram Jethmalani, who urged the court to consider that ESS was a foreign company which ‘‘did not have to pay taxes in India’’ before it decided on Zee’s eligibility.Apart from a battery of lawyers and mediapersons, Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor S. Gurumurthy was also present in the courtroom when Jethmalani presented his arguments.In his submission before Chief Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Judge D.Y. Chandrachud, Jethmalani said ESS was a joint venture of the subsidiaries of two parent companies. He said it was a foreign company which did not have to pay taxes in India. Jethmalani invoked Article 19 (1G) of the Constitution to seek protection for Indian companies.Jethmalani also argued that ESS had failed to satisfy the consortium criteria for the bids called by the BCCI. Jethmalani said ESS should have protested against the bid process at the time of the opening of the bids when it realised Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) was just tabulating the bids and not looking into the eligibility of the parties.Earlier, ESS counsel Iqbal Chagla stressed on the eligibility criteria and said it was Zee which had failed the test. Chagla will continue his arguments on Friday. Zee counsel Harish Salve would also most likely get a chance to respond tomorrow. BIN COURT
