The Supreme Court which had in March appointed renowned cricketer and former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar as interim president of the BCCI to discharge functions of IPL 2014 matches, on Friday relieved him from the post and allowed him to take up assignment as commentator.
A Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and Ibrahim Kalifulla passed this order on a letter received from Mr. Gavaskar seeking clarification whether he should continue as interim President of the BCCI till the main matter was heard in September after the submission of the enquiry report.
In his letter, Mr. Gavaskar said making him as interim President of the BCCI for IPL-7 matches by an order passed on March 28 was a biggest honour. He sought instructions whether his job was till the end of the IPL matches or till the matter was heard in September in view of the subsequent order on May 16.
Senior counsel Ariyama Sundaram, appearing for the BCCI said the March 28 order was clear that Mr. Gavaskar would be the interim President only for IPL matches and senior Vice President Shivlal Yadav would discharge the other functions of the President of BCCI. Now that the matches were over, Mr. Gavaskar could be relieved. Mr. Sundaram said Mr. Gavaskar had submitted claims for payment which was being looked into by the BCCI and a decision would be taken within three weeks.
In a brief order the Bench said when the May 16 order was passed the IPL-7 matches were still being played and the IPL concluded on June 1. Now that the matches had concluded there was no reason why Mr. Gavaskar could not be relieved of his assignment to take up any other assignment including as a commentator anywhere in the world. It said “we are not sure whether Mr. Gavaskar has so far many any claim for compensation for having been deprived of his income as a commentator. Mr. Gavaskar should make his claim before the BCCI, which should examine it and submit a report to this court to enable us to pass appropriate orders.” The Bench directed that all pending applications be listed in the first week of September.
