'Grave apprehensions as to the conduct of the past President of BCCI'

Rediff.com accquired a copy of the letter that Zee chairman Subhash Chandra sent to BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra, asking him to explore the possibility of a reasonable resolution on the telecast rights' issue.

The following is the text:

February 01, 2005

Shri Ranbir Singh Mahendra
The President
The Board of Control of Cricket in India
1, Ashoka Road, Vijay Nagar
Bhiwani-127 021

Dear Shri Mahendra,

We would like to congratulate you on your finally taken over the charge as the President of BCCI alongwith other newly elected office bearers on 27th January, 2005.

We would like to set out the following points on the cricket telecast rights issues for your consideration.

Now that a new team has taken over, we were wanting to explore the possibility of a reasonable resolution of the issue of telecast of TV rights.

We have grave apprehensions as to the conduct of the past President of BCCI which are the subject matter of our petition in court. However, in order to explore whether this unpleasantness can be put behind us, and the game of cricket be given the place of primacy, consistent with our legitimate rights and expectations, we are writing this letter to you.

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We would like to state that we were required to pay an amount equivalent to 20 million USD within 48 hours, which we did after collecting advance payments from various agencies.

Apart from our aspirations of being the first truly Indian TV channel to telecast Indian Cricket, we are also conscious of possible claims from those who assisted us with funds, and irrespective of the results of the present case. If claims are made against us, it would further complicate matters between the Board and us.

In order to avoid all this, we seek an appointment with you to make an earnest attempt to take matters forward.

We are sure that there being no truly other competing Indian channel in the fray (other Doordarshan), there is no legal impediment in the Board arriving at some reasonable arrangement with us.

Needless to add, any discussion we have would be without prejudice - as also this letter is without prejudice.

With best regards,

Yours sincerely,

Subhash Chandra