N. Srinivasan, president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), seems to have been caught in a fresh controversy with a local cricket club moving the Madras High Court to direct the State government to take action against him and other members of the association’s executive committee for alleged “mismanagement and improper functioning of the committee.”
Mr. Srinivasan, stepped aside as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which was the centre of a controversy in the wake of the IPL betting scam, on June 2.
When the matter came up before Justice K.K. Sasidharan, the Special Government Pleader, I.S. Inbadurai, took notice on behalf of the State government. The Judge ordered private notice to the TNCA, Mr. Srinivasan, and 24 others returnable by June 17.
The petitioner, Bharathi Cricket Club, Shenoy Nagar, represented by its secretary, C.S. Kadiresan, submitted that it was affiliated to the TNCA. Mr. Kadiresan said BCCI rules and regulations did not permit office-bearers of the board to have any stakes in any cricket playing institution. He alleged that the rule was amended exempting its operation for IPL and 20-20 cricket “tailor made to suit the need” of Mr. Srinivasan.
His company, India Cements, became one of the franchisees of IPL. While on the one hand, he was a BCCI office-bearer and TNCA president, on the other he became an IPL franchisee.
He offered the cricket stadium belonging to the association to the BCCI and the IPL as a franchisee. To suit his need, he got things done through the association “by abusing his position” as BCCI president. Prevailing upon the EC members for his personal advantage, he moved a resolution for demolishing the existing stadium here and for constructing a new one. The EC members simply toed his line unmindful of the adverse consequences and “misuse of TNCA” by Mr. Srinivasan.
It appeared that the Chennai Corporation gave permission to demolish the existing stadium only on May 7, 2010. As per the association’s finalised accounts on March 31, 2010, Rs.1.19 crore had been spent by the association towards demolition charges and new constructions had been made at a cost of Rs.30.33 crore under the head “Cost of stadium and building new.” The building plan approval had not been obtained from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the Chennai Corporation. Even as of date, there was no plan approval for ‘I’, ‘J’ and ‘K’ stands. The entire affairs of the TNCA were being mismanaged and run prejudicial to the interests of the association, the petitioner said.
He said the Bharathi Cricket Club and six other member clubs affiliated to TNCA submitted a written representation to the State government on March 27 last year. The petitioner sought a direction to the State government to take action against the EC members based on the complaint.
