The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) requesting the court to provide the sealed cover report prepared by the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee in the IPL betting controversy to the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee.
The report has been kept in a sealed cover with the Supreme Court Registry due to the sensitive nature of its contents.
The Justice Lodha panel was set up in January 22 this year by the Supreme Court and is currently looking into various recommendations for administrative reforms within the BCCI after the dent caused by the IPL controversy.
“Let the Justice Lodha Committee ask for it. Why should you be keen to do this?” Justice T.S. Thakur, on a Bench with Justice FMI. Kalifulla, asked senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram, who is appearing for the CAB.
“But the Lodha Committee does not know about the report,” Ms. Chidambaram responded.
"Then you point it out to them. It is for the committee to decide, if they want, we will give,” Justice Thakur said.
Justice Mukul Mudgal panel, which probed the controversy, handed over its findings to the court in a sealed cover to protect the reputation of certain persons, as allegations against them were not “established.”
The application pointed out that the Justice Mudgal Committee had submitted that the allegations required “verification and investigation.”
The application, besides the contents in the sealed cover, sought the first report and the full text of the third report of Mudgal Committee to be handed over to the Justice Lodha Committee.
The apex court had set up the Justice Mudgal panel, also comprising former Additional Solicitor General L. Nageswara Rao and Nilay Dutta, to conduct an independent probe into allegations of corruption in the IPL.
At one point, the apex court had asked the Mudgal Committee to further probe the allegations against 13 persons, including officials and some capped players.
In its final report, the committee had indicted Mr. Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals part owner Raj Kundra for betting and sharing team information.
On January 22, the Supreme Court found Mr. Meiyappan and Mr. Kundra guilty of betting. Recently, the Justice Lodha Committee served them a life ban.
