BCCI moves SC, questions Bombay HC

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Bombay high court order which termed as "illegal and unconstitutional" its two-member panel which gave a clean chit to board president N Srinivasan and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan of any role in the IPL spot-fixing scam.

In its special leave petition (SLP), the BCCI said the two-member committee, comprising retired high court judges, was formed well within the internal rules of the board and the HC had erred by entertaining a public interest litigation (PIL) against it.

"A PIL cannot be entertained against the BCCI," the cricket board said citing the apex court's earlier judgment which had described it as a private body discharging certain public functions and declined to issue writ to it. The BCCI appeal, which seeks a stay on the HC order, is likely to be listed for hearing on Wednesday.

It questioned the locus standi of the Cricket Association of Bihar and its secretary Aditya Verma to challenge the two-member commission set up by BCCI and IPL's governing council after the betting and fixing scandal surfaced through sensational arrests, including that of pacer S Sreesanth, made by Delhi Police.

The board said the HC order was contradictory as on one hand it termed the setting up of the two-member inquiry panel as "illegal and unconstitutional" but on the other hand conceded that the board had the prerogative to appoint such probe panels.

The HC had refrained from ordering a new panel of retired judges to go into the charges against India Cements Ltd, owners of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, its former team principal Gurunath Meiyappan (son-in-law of BCCI's president-in-exile N Srinivasan) and Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals. It held that forming a new probe commission was the prerogative of the board.

"The (probe) commission was not duly constituted and was contrary to and in violation of the provisions of Rules 2.2 and 3 of Section 6 of the Operational Rules (of BCCI)," said Justices M S Sonak and S F Vajifdar in a 61-page verdict delivered on July 30.

The HC order was a setback for the cricket board and its president N Srinivasan who was keen to resume as the BCCI chief.

The HC order came just two days after the panel submitted its report on July 28 giving a clean chit to all those against whom the probe was conducted.

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Shweta Pandey

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