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PLEAS OF THE PARTIES :
Writ Petitioners :
The factors pleaded by the writ petitioners herein which would allegedly demonstrate that the Board is an authority that would be subject to the constitutional discipline of Part III of the Constitution of India, are as under :
"a. It undertakes all activities in relation to Cricket including entering into the contracts for awarding telecast and broadcasting rights, for advertisement revenues in the Stadium etc. b. The team fielded by the BCCI plays as "Indian Team" while playing One Day Internationals or Test Matches  it cannot be gainsaid that the team purports to represent India as a nation, and its wins are matters of national prestige. They wear uniform that carries the national flag, and are treated as sports ambassadors of India.
d. This Hon'ble Court has already, by its interim orders., directed a free to air telecast of the matches that were played in Pakistan in which a team selected by the Respondent BCCI participated. This was done, it is respectfully submitted, keeping in view the larger public interest involved in telecasting of such a sport. Surely, the regulatory body that controls solely and to the exclusion of all others, the power to organize such games, and to select a team that would participate in such games is performing a public function that must be discharged in a manner that complies with the constitutional discipline of Part III of the Constitution. If the events organized are public events, then it is submitted that the body that is the controlling authority of such public events would surely be subject to the discipline of Art. 14 and 19 of the Constitution.

In Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India and Others etc. vs. Cricket Association of Bengal and Others etc. [(1995) 2 SCC 161], this Court held :

"It may be true that what is protected by Article 19(1)(a) is an expression of thought and feeling and not of the physical or intellectual prowess or skill. It is also true that a person desiring to telecast sports events when he is not himself a participant in the game, does not seek to exercise his right of self-expression. However, the right to freedom of speech and expression also includes the right to educate, to inform and to entertain and also the right to be educated, informed and entertained. The former is the right of the telecaster and the latter that of the viewers. The right to telecast sporting event will therefore also include the right to educate and inform the present and the prospective sportsmen interested in the particular game and also to inform and entertain the lovers of the game. Hence, when a telecaster desires to telecast a sporting event, it is incorrect to say that free- speech element is absent from his right. The degree of the element will depend upon the character of the telecaster who claims the right. An organizer such as the BCCI or CAB in the present case which are indisputably devoted to the promotion of the game of cricket, cannot be placed in the same scale as the business organizations whose only intention is to make as large a profit as can be made by telecasting the game."

The activities undertaken by the Board were taken note of in the case of Cricket Association of Bengal (supra). Therein this Court inter alia rejected the contention of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that the activities of the Association was a commercial one and it had been claiming a commercial right to exploit the sporting event as they did not have the right to telecast the sporting event through an agency of their choice in the following terms:

"We have pointed out that that argument is not factually correct and what in fact the BCCI/CAB is asserting is a right under Article 19(1)(a). While asserting the said right, it is incidentally going to earn some revenue. In the circumstances, it has the right to choose the best method to earn the maximum revenue possible. In fact, it can be accused of negligence and may be attributed improper motives, if it fails to explore the most profitable avenue of telecasting the event, when in any case, in achieving the object of promoting and popularizing the sport, it has to endeavour to telecast the cricket matches."