The High Court has ordered the organiser of the singing reality show Bhutan Idol to pay over Nu 2.5 M to the top three winners of its first season. The decision follows the organizer’s failure to pay the promised cash prizes after he was unable to send the winners to Australia as initially promised. When the promise fell through, the winners requested cash prizes instead. The judgment was passed last week.
According to the judgment, Sonam Tenzin must pay Nu 1 M to the winner of the singing reality show, along with Nu 875,000 and Nu 750,000 to the second and third-place winners, respectively. These payments must be made within six months of the judgment.
This amount is higher than what the District Court initially ordered. The District Court’s judgment required the organiser to pay more than Nu 2.3 M.
The High Court based its decision on the work report submitted by the organiser to BICMA, where he claimed to have awarded scholarships to the top three contestants: 100 per cent to the winner, 75 per cent to the second, and 50 per cent to the third.
The court also considered the Nu 500,000 cash vote collected from each of the top three contestants by the organizer, as well as the scholarships mentioned in the report.
The case was first registered with the Thimphu District Courts last year and reached the High Court following an appeal by the show organiser.
Tashi Dekar
Edited by Kipchu
