ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld its registrar’s decision to reject a petition challenging the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Feb 11, 2019, live streaming media rights agreement which allegedly conditionally allowed betting and gambling in the HBL-Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 events.

Justice Mushir Alam, during a chamber hearing, suggested to the petitioner, who happens to be a former member of the Pakistan Cricket Board as well as a journalist, to approach the Islamabad High Court for the redressal of his grievance.

The petitioner was represented through his counsel Muhammad Asad Rajput.

Earlier, the registrar’s office returned the petition on the grounds that the petitioner had directly approached the Supreme Court without exhausting the remedy at the courts below the apex court.

Subsequently, the petitioner instituted an appeal against the registrar’s decision was taken up by Justice Mushir Alam in the chamber.

The petitioner told Dawn that he was considering moving a review petition before the Supreme Court as well as filing a proper petition in the high court.

Petitioner told to approach Islamabad High Court for relief

The petition requested the Supreme Court to declare as illegal the Feb 11, 2019 agreement on the live streaming media rights during the HBL-PSL events which commenced from Feb 21 and had to be closed on March 15, 2020, but the premier T20, which had entered the knockout stage, had to be suspended due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The agreement, the petition alleged, was executed by the PCB, a governing body for cricket in Pakistan and responsible for the promotion and expansion of the game through its associate and affiliated members across the country.

It was reported in the media that the PCB had given the streaming rights to a company, which then signed a deal with a foreign betting company for the competition. Allegedly, clause 4.4 (b) of the contract included conditional permission for promotion, sponsorship and advertising of gambling, betting and prediction games in countries where it was legally allowed.

The petition contended that PCB’s responsibilities inclu­ded management of the game at the highest level and organisation of different domestic tournaments at the national level.

The detailed objects, powers and functions of the PCB are enumerated in Article 4 of the 2019 constitution of the board framed under the powers vested by virtue of Section 5 of the Sports (Development and Control) Ordinance, 1962.

One of the functions of the PCB under Article 4(iv) of board’s constitution is to make regulations for anti-corruption which has been formulated and promulgated by the PCB in the name of Anti-Corruption Code with effect from July 28, 2017.

The code prohibits betting; besides, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has also promulgated anti-corruption code as well as code of ethics prohibiting betting on matches.

The petition contended that the live streaming media rights agreement was unlawful and void by virtue of sections 23 and 24 of the Contract Act, 1872, since it was not validly approved by the PCB’s Board of Governors.

The petition regretted that during the PSL events the betting remained available on internet on different websites when it was the fundamental rights of the people to enjoy clean and corruption-free sports events in the country.

When the news about reported gambling and betting was highlighted by the media, the petitioner said, the PCB had issued a press release on March 23 to deny obliquely betting, but no concrete steps were taken to stop the crime.

Likewise, the member Board of Governors and chairman of the PCB’s audit committee also did not conduct pre-audit of the agreement and, therefore, the respondent, the petition said, had willfully violated the constitution and laws, thus infringing the rights of the people to enjoy clean environment of sports.

The petition highlighted that the sports, which specifically and distinctly included cricket, were regulated by the Ordinance 1962. Section of the Ordinance asks for promoting and developing uniform standards of competitions in sports in Pakistan comparable to the standards prevailing internationally, besides regulating and controlling sports in the country on a national basis by notification in the official gazette.

In addition to cricketing laws, the constitution also prohibits all forms of gambling for which Prevention of Gambling Act, 1977, has been promulgated at the federal level, and Prevention of Gambling Ordinance, 1978, at the provincial level.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2020