The Supreme Court on Friday did not take up for hearing some issues raised by veteran cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, who was appointed as an interim president of BCCI for managing IPL 7 as one of the recently-appointed judges had appeared for a party as a lawyer.
When the matter came up for hearing, a bench comprising Chief Justice R. M. Lodha and Justices P. C. Ghose and Rohinton Nariman referred the issue raised by Gavaskar in his June 9 letter before the bench which was dealing with the main matter.
Justice Nariman, before his elevation as the judge, had appeared as senior advocate for N. Srinivasan, against whom the apex court has ordered inquiry in the wake of IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal in the sixth edition.
The matter will now be heard by a bench in which justice F M I Kalifulla will be one of the judges. Another judge, Justice A. K. Patnaik, who headed the bench has recently retired.
Meanwhile, it is learnt from those associated with the matter that Gavaskar has sought a direction from the apex court about his future role as the IPL for which he was appointed has ended this season.
The apex court had on May 16 ordered a probe by the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee against Srinivasan and 12 prominent players in IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal.
The court, which had asked the panel to file a report in a sealed envelope before it by the end of August, had also asked Srinivasan not to act as BCCI President during the probe.
It had earlier on March 28 appointed veteran cricketer Sunil Gavaskar as an interim president of BCCI for managing the IPL 7. Shiv Lal Yadav was appointed as an interim BCCI president by the court to look after the other cricketing activities of BCCI.
Gavaskar issued a statement to categorically deny media reports that he had approached the Supreme Court seeking compensation from the BCCI for discharging his duty as Board President for IPL.
“The story about me writing to the Honourable Supreme Court of India complaining about BCCI not having compensated me is totally false and utterly mischievous. I have done no such thing and expect a retraction from whoever came up with this story,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying in a media release issued by his company.
Gavaskar said he has written to the Supreme Court asking it to clarify the status of his position in the BCCI at present.
“The first order, given at the end of March, was pretty clear that I would be the BCCI interim president, IPL, till the end of the tournament. In the middle of May, the court said Shivlal (Yadav, who was named interim BCCI president for non-IPL affairs by the court) and I would continue till further orders. So it is just that little bit of confusion and that is all that I had asked for,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by the ESPN Cricinfo.
