The Delhi high court restrained the Board of Control for Cricket in India from opening financial bids and awarding the contract for cricket telecast and broadcast rights in India for the next four years to any company till December 12.

The interim order came from a division bench of Justice M K Sharma and Justice B N Chaturvedi on a petition filed by Zee Telefilms, challenging the BCCI criteria for awarding the contract for telecast rights in the country.

The court, however, approved the interim arrangement made by the BCCI for the telecast of cricket matches during the India-Sri Lanka series, beginning Tuesday, and India-South Africa series, scheduled to start on November 16.

The court also asked the BCCI to maintain accounts of the proceeds coming from the interim arrangement and file a copy of the contract entered into with Prasar Bharati, Nimbus [Get Quote] sports and TWI for the two cricket series in a sealed cover.

The court fixed December 12 as next date of hearing and asked the BCCI to state in an affidavit the grounds on which the petitioner Zee Telefilms had been disqualified from the tender bid.