The Supreme Court will pronounce on Thursday its verdict on the fate of BCCI president-in-exile N. Srinivasan as top cricket administrator and whether he acted in conflict of interest by donning the caps of both BCCI chief and IPL team owner.
A Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and Fakir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla would also decide the legal validity of an amendment to rule 6.2.4 incorporated by the Board in February 2008, which enabled BCCI officials to own IPL teams.
Reserving the case for final orders in December after marathon hearings, the Bench had orally observed that “heavens will not fall” if cricket administrators did not own IPL teams.
The verdict would also deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s repeated contention that the Supreme Court could not “interfere” with the internal matter of a registered society such as the BCCI in the name of public policy.
Uncertainty on the future of Mr. Srinivasan due to the litigation had led to the postponement of the annual general body meeting and BCCI elections scheduled for November 20 to January- end.
Justice Thakur, while hearing final arguments, had said there was a “basic difference” between the “professional interest” of those like former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar in the IPL and the “commercial interest” of those who paid Rs. 500 crore to have their teams play in the IPL. “How are they affected by the win or loss of a team in an IPL match,” Justice Thakur observed.
