New Delhi: India's top court finally gave a green light for the state-run broadcaster Doordarshan to telecast live the home series.

The decks were cleared Tuesday after a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court issued an interim order deferring an application by Zee Telefilms against the Indian cricket board's decision to award telecast rights to Doordarshan.

The national broadcaster Monday sealed the rights to show both the Australia and South Africa series in October and November following a last-minute deal with board officials.

The 22-million-dollar agreement includes four Test matches against Australia, two against South Africa and a one-day international against Pakistan.

The court said the deferral order would be operative till December 2 by which time another a petition filed by the Zee network should be heard.

Zee has challenged the board's decision to cancel cricket telecast rights which the network insists were awarded to it for the next four years.

Trouble erupted after the cricket board scrapped TV rights worth 308 million dollars amid a legal battle between Zee and rival ESPN-Star Sports.

The board justified the cancellation by saying it had not formalised the deal with Zee on paper and had returned an advance of 20 million dollars deposited by the network.

The Court however directed the cricket board, Sony Entertainment Network and Prasar Bharti, an administrative body governing Doordarshan, to maintain separate accounts from the advertisements during the telecast.

Sony will distribute and market the telecast of the matches.