Explained: How an High Court ruling could help Rajasthan Royals meet BCCI’s IPL guidelines to keep their home games in Jaipur originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Rajasthan High Court suspends RCA ad hoc committee, orders elections within three months.
BCCI had insisted on a democratically elected RCA before continuing Jaipur IPL hosting.
HC ruling directly clears the biggest hurdle for the Royals to stay in Jaipur.
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High Court order gives Rajasthan Royals fresh hope of keeping Jaipur home
A Rajasthan High Court ruling has thrown Rajasthan Royals a lifeline in their bid to hold onto Jaipur as their IPL home base.
According to The Times of India, the judicial intervention removed the single biggest administrative obstacle standing between the franchise and the BCCI’s non-negotiable conditions for hosting matches in the city.
The High Court has suspended the Rajasthan Cricket Association’s ad hoc committee and installed the additional chief secretary of the state home department, Bhaskar A Sawant, as a sole administrator.
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He has been briefed to get proper democratic elections done within three months. This ends a messy chapter that had dragged on for over two and a half years since former RCA president Vaibhav Gehlot stepped away from the post in February 2024.
In the period that followed, a procession of political convenors came and went, multiple extensions were handed out, and yet elections never materialised.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Rajasthan Royals
[BCCI/Creimas]
How did the RCA-RSSC breakdown create a crisis in Jaipur?
In early 2024, the Rajasthan State Sports Council sealed the Sawai Mansingh Stadium and the RCA’s offices. They argued that the formal agreement between the two bodies had lapsed and there were outstanding dues of roughly Rs 8 crore.
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With the RCA reduced to an unelected, temporary committee, the BCCI had to take a call on IPL hosting. They ideally sit on the table with elected member associations, and not a stopgap body operating without a democratic mandate.
However, to ensure that IPL cricket could still take place in Jaipur during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the BCCI made an exceptional arrangement and allowed Rajasthan Royals to coordinate match operations directly with the state sports department.
It was an unusual workaround, and the board made no secret of the fact that it was a temporary measure with a clear shelf life. IPL chairman Arun Singh Dhumal had stated publicly that Jaipur could only continue hosting IPL cricket if the RCA held proper elections, put an elected body in place, and ensured the venue met the league’s infrastructure requirements.
MORE: Why Rajasthan Royals are playing IPL 2026 home matches in Guwahati and not just Jaipur
How does the High Court order give breathing space to Rajasthan Royals?
The High Court has done precisely what the BCCI had been waiting for by placing a senior administrator in charge with a firm three-month deadline to conduct elections.
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The court’s intervention directly satisfies the apex board’s primary condition, giving the RCA a clear pathway to re-establishing itself as a functional, elected association capable of entering into proper agreements with both the BCCI and the sports council.
Once elections are held and a legitimate leadership is in place, the groundwork for resolving the stadium access dispute and settling outstanding dues becomes far more workable.
The franchise can now look ahead with genuine optimism that Jaipur, the city that has always been their natural home, will remain on the IPL map in 2027.
The court has done in one order what two and a half years of ad hoc management could not do, i.e. to hand the whole situation a realistic shot at resolution.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
