The Bombay High Court on Tuesday held illegal the formation of a two-member commission by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to inquire into allegations of spot-fixing and betting.
The court order is a severe blow to BCCI president N. Srinivasan as the panel on July 28 gave a “clean chit” to him, his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, who was the team principal of Chennai Super Kings, and Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals.
A Division Bench of Justices S.J. Vazifdar and M.S. Sonak was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), which challenged the constitution of the commission by the BCCI and the IPL governing council, especially as it was formed when Mr. Srinivasan was still active president of the BCCI. “The High Court has said the issue raised in the PIL is maintainable and the constitution of probe panel is illegal,” BCA counsel Ameet Naik told The Hindu.
The court order raised questions over the BCCI move to declare all three innocent of spot-fixing and betting charges. The Bench made it clear that a fresh probe needed to be conducted against the accused. This is likely to jeopardise Mr. Srinivasan’s return as active president of the BCCI.
The judges asked the BCCI to file an affidavit on how the panel was formed and under what provisions. BCA counsel had submitted emails sent from BCCI office-bearers, in which it was claimed that no meeting took place to decide on the probe panel.