{"id":56174,"date":"2026-05-17T22:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/?post_type=press_releases&#038;p=56174"},"modified":"2026-05-17T22:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:14:23","slug":"delhi-high-court-issues-notice-on-plea-seeking-free-to-air-broadcast-of-fifa-world-cup-2026-in-india","status":"publish","type":"press_releases","link":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/press-releases\/delhi-high-court-issues-notice-on-plea-seeking-free-to-air-broadcast-of-fifa-world-cup-2026-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Delhi High Court Issues Notice on Plea Seeking Free-to-Air Broadcast of FIFA World Cup 2026 in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\"><strong>The Delhi High Court has issued notice in a writ petition seeking directions to ensure accessibility of the\u00a0FIFA World Cup 2026\u00a0broadcast in India through the free-to-air public broadcasting plat form\u00a0Prasar Bharati.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\">The petition highlights that the FIFA World Cup has been notified as a\u00a0<b>\u201cSporting Event of National Importance\u201d<\/b>\u00a0under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar<b>\u00a0<\/b>Bharati) Act, 2007.<b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\">It has been submitted that despite the tournament being scheduled to commence on\u00a0<b>11 June 2026<\/b>, no broadcaster has yet acquired the broadcasting rights for India, thereby raising<b>\u00a0<\/b>concerns regarding public access to one of the most widely viewed sporting events globally.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\">Appearing on behalf of the Petitioner,\u00a0<b>Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar<\/b>\u00a0submitted that access<b>\u00a0<\/b>to sporting events of national importance forms part of the constitutional right to receive<b>\u00a0<\/b>information under\u00a0<b>Article 19(1)(a)<\/b>\u00a0of the Constitution of India, and failure to broadcast the<b>\u00a0<\/b>tournament would amount to a violation of citizens&#8217; constitutional rights under Articles 14,<b>\u00a0<\/b>19(1)(a) and 21.<b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\">The submissions further drew attention to\u00a0<b>Section 12<\/b>\u00a0of the\u00a0<b>Prasar Bharati Act, 1990<\/b>, which mandates fair, balanced and adequate coverage of sports and events of national importance in furtherance of public interest broadcasting.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\">The petition under\u00a0<b>Article 226<\/b>\u00a0of the Constitution of India has been filed by\u00a0<b>Advocate<\/b>\u00a0<b>Avdhesh Bairwa<\/b>\u00a0and is being represented by\u00a0<b>Hammurabi &amp; Solomon Partners<\/b>\u00a0under the guidance of\u00a0<b>Shweta Bharti, Jyoti K. Chaudhary and Rohit Jolly.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\">The matter is being led by\u00a0<b>Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar<\/b>\u00a0along with the Firm\u2019s team comprising:\u00a0<b>Ankit Konwar, Avdhesh Bairwa, Subhashni Kumari, Prateek Singh, Nishi\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<b>Rathore and Nishi Kashyap.<\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" align=\"justify\">The matter raises important questions concerning sports broadcasting regulation, constitutional freedoms and public access to events of national importance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-56174","press_releases","type-press_releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/56174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press_releases"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}