Pressure on Tuesday mounted on N. Srinivasan to quit as BCCI chief with three vice-presidents joining former cricketers and administrators in asking him to respect the Supreme Court observation that he should step down for a fair probe into the IPL fixing scandal.
After going through the contents of a report filed in a sealed cover by the apex court-appointed probe panel into the scandal, a bench headed by Justice A.K. Patnaik said there are “very very serious” allegations made in the report and unless the BCCI President steps down, no fair probe can be conducted.
The beleaguered Mr. Srinivasan now appeared isolated even within the Board as three of the five vice-presidents — Shivlal Yadav, Ravi Sawant and Chitrak Mitra — asking him to abide by what the Supreme Court observation.
“SC has given the order, nobody can challenge it. We have to accept it. Since the SC has given an order, there is no question of going back on it or giving an opinion on that. It has to be carried out in total and BCCI will have to follow whatever the Apex Court has given,” Mr. Yadav, a vice-president representing South Zone, said.
Asked if he was willing to do the duty, he said, “Absolutely, I am ready to accept any responsibility given to me.”
Another vice-president Ravi Sawant, who represents the West Zone, asked Mr. Srinivasan to resign within the next two days, before the matter comes up before the apex court.
“Supreme Court is the highest authority. It the SC has said (Srinivasan must step down), nothing can be done. If the Supreme Court has said he should resign, then he should step down within these two days,” Mr. Sawant said.
“If there is a vacancy (in the post of BCCI president), the GBM of the BCCI will decide (who will occupy the vacant chair),” he added.
Vice-president from the East Zone, Chitrak Mitra said that a full-fledged president will take over after Mr. Srinivasan steps down.
“The SC verdict said Srinivasan should step down for a proper investigation (into IPL fixing scandal). If he does not step down, the SC will pass an order to that effect on March 27. That’s all about it,” Mr. Mitra said.
