The Supreme Court on Friday left it to interim president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sunil Gavaskar to decide whether Chief Indian Premier League Operator Sundar Raman would continue in IPL 2014. It also made clear that none of the officials of India Cements would participate in the activities of the BCCI.
A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Ibrahim Kalifulla passed this order after senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for the Cricket association of Bihar, levelled allegations against Mr. Raman. Senior counsel Aryama Sundaram denied that Mr. Raman was an employee of India Cements. He said that since Mr. Raman had been in charge of the IPL tournaments since 2008, he should not be removed.
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BCCI president N. Srinivasan made a written offer that “till investigation into the allegations against him is completed, he will not discharge any of the functions of the president of the BCCI.”
Mr. Salve, however, submitted that no further investigation into the allegations was necessary as the findings of the IPL probe committee appointed by the apex court were sufficient for the court to remove Mr. Srinivasan from his post.
The Bench said: “As we are yet to hear all the parties in these matters, we cannot at this stage form any opinion and pass orders on the basis of such opinion for removal of Mr. Srinivasan from the post of president of the BCCI.”
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On the question of keeping Mr. Raman out of IPL 2014, it said: “We also direct that it is for Mr. Gavaskar to decide whether Mr. Sundar Raman, chief IPL operator, would continue in the IPL 2014 or some other arrangement has to be made in his place. In case of any difficulty, Mr. Gavaskar may apply to this court for appropriate orders. Mr. Gavaskar will not work as a commentator during this period and he will be adequately compensated for his loss of income for this period by the BCCI. The compensation amount will be determined after the court resumes hearing on April 16.”