MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 9 In a fresh turn to the cricket telecast rights dispute, the Bombay High Court today suggested submission of fresh bids by ESPN-Star Sports and Zee TV to resolve the matter.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dalbir Bhandari and Justice D Y Chandrachud proposed that the bidding process be reopened with a floor price of $308 million (around Rs 1,400 crore). The highest bidder would bag the telecast rights for all national and international matches played in India between October 2004 and September 2008, the judges said.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had awarded conditional rights to Zee earlier this week on a winning bid of $308m. But ESPN-Star Sports went to court asserting that Zee was not eligible as per the conditions outlined in the tender. It said Zee did not possess the required two years experience of telecasting cricket matches on an international level.

In a courtroom packed with journalists and a battery of lawyers representing BCCI, Zee TV, ESPN-Star Sports and Government of India, the judges today suggested a submission of fresh bids after listening to BCCI’s contention that both Zee and ESPN-Star Sports were equally eligible.

Then Zee’s counsel asked if he could be allowed to respond to the proposal in the afternoon session. Zee came back after the lunch break and through its lawyer Rafiq Dada said it would reply to the judges’ proposal after consulting its board of directors on Monday.

But ESPN-Star Sports instantly agreed to the court’s suggestion. Speaking to the media, ESPN Star Sports managing director (Asia) Rik Dovey maintained that the high price for telecast rights was justified and hoped that the whole process would be completed by next week.

Later, lawyers from both sides told the media that if the Zee Board favoured a new bid, they would meet informally on Wednesday (September 15) and submit their bids in sealed envelopes to the registrar.

Also present in the court room was Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra Goel who expressed confidence that his company would bag the rights. ‘‘The rights will come to us, because the truth is with us,’’ he said.

When BCCI had awarded the contract to Zee, it had said that originally