SC to hear plea against Mallya's team tomorrow

New Delhi, Apr 27 (UNI) The Supreme Court will consider tomorrow a petition seeking to restrain liquor baron Vijay Mallya-owned Bangalore team, Royal Challengers from promoting liquor under the garb of cricket.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan will hear the petiton filed by one Krishan Kumar Agarwal alleging that the Royal Challengers was the name of a whisky brand Royal Challenge, produced by Mallaya-owned U B Groups and in the name of cricket, liqour brands were being promoted, which was illegal and cannot be permitted under the law.

According to the petitioner, such promotion of the liqour brand was not in the larger interest of the society and the name of a popular sport like cricket should not be allowed to be exploited for the commercial interest of the owner of a team.

Moreover, the authorities concerned must be directed not to permit such advertisements and the companies should not be allowed to promote liqour at the cost of cricket, the petitioner said.

The apex court had earlier refused to grant urgent hearing to the petitioner.

Rahul Dravid is the captain of the Royal Challengers.

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