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Informist, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Thursday rejected a public interest litigation seeking to restrain the portrayal of the Board of Control of Cricket in India's cricket team as 'Team India' or the 'Indian National Team'. The top court said that the situation would have been different if the Centre had come up and said that someone was usurping the status of Team India through a society. "The Ministry of Sports has given its actual support, blessing and endorsement to the BCCI. So we have no reason to question that," said the top court.

 

"You (Petitioner) just start sitting at home and draft petitions. What is the problem in all of this? There is a notification for the National sports tribunal also with outstanding members. Don't burden the court," said a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The bench said that recently the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 has been passed by Parliament, which will govern all sports bodies. "The issue with the BCCI is that sometimes the tail is wagging the dog because of the funds they have," the bench added.

 

The petitioner--Reepak Kansal, an advocate--had said that BCCI was a private society registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 and not a statutory body or a "State" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Despite this, Prasar Bharti platforms such as Doordarshan and All India Radio continue to refer to the BCCI's team as 'Team India' or the 'Indian National Team', with the Indian National Flag in the cricket tournament implicitly conferring national status on a private association thereby creating a false impression in the public mind and granting unwarranted commercial legitimacy to a private entity. This practice amounts to misrepresentation and could potentially violate the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Flag Code of India, 2002, which regulate the use of the national name, flag and symbol, said the petitioner.

 

In October, the Delhi High Court had rejected the petition saying that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity has been held by the top court to be a fundamental right of the citizens within the meaning of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Thus, any citizen or an institution, including BCCI, who flies the national flag cannot be questioned, said the high court.

 

The team which is selected by the BCCI to play against teams of other countries may not be a team selected by the government or any of its statutory bodies or authorities but that by itself would not mean that the team so selected does not represent India as a country in the international sphere, said the high court. It is common knowledge that these sports persons who are selected to form the cricket team by the BCCI come from various states in India and one can construe that the team would represent various states of India, said the high court. Cumulatively, the team would, in effect, not only reflect the unity and diversity of India but also espouse the collective emotion of the whole country when the said team plays against other teams in the international sphere, said the high court. Thus, viewed in that context, the team which represents India may be coined as 'Team India' or the 'Indian National Team', it added.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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