Petitioners pushed on to the backfoot

The two petitioners who had filed a Public Interest Litigation against the Board of Control for Cricket in India were quickly pushed on to the backfoot by the Delhi High court on Wednesday when the PIL came up for hearing. The court issued contempt notices to the two cricket fans Rahul Mehra and Shantanu Sharma, who had sought a probe into the alleged mismanagement of the game by the BCCI and its member associations.

The court said the two had committed an act of contempt by going to the media before the case was heard. Taking strong exception to the reporting of the entire petition by some newspapers before it was heard by the court, a division bench said ``we feel that an act of contempt has been committed by the two by going to the media.'' Issuing show cause notices to Mehra and Sharma, the court said ``we will not like you to go to the press before the matter is argued in the court.'' They were then asked to file replies by August 17, the next date of hearing.

Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for the BCCI, said the entire text of the writ petition was published in many newspapers and magazines even before the matter was heard by the court. He alleged that Mehra and Sharma, in a website launched by them, had inititated a campaign against the BCCI. ``We will not allow any publicity of this kind otherwise we will throw the petition out,'' the court said. The court also adjourned to August 24 a contempt of court petitioned against the two by the BCCI.