A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday set aside a single judge’s verdict quashing the life ban imposed on cricketer S. Sreesanth by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the wake of the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.
The Bench, while allowing the appeal filed by the BCCI, observed that that the High Court was doing judicial review and could not sit as an appellate authority over the decision of the disciplinary committee of the BCCI. Besides, the court also said that there could not have any reappraisal of the evidence that the committee had relied upon.
The court also pointed out that the single judge did not find that Sreesanth was not guilty of spot fixing charges. Nor the single judge had found that the procedure adopted by the disciplinary committee had been vitiated. In fact, the single judge had only found that the cricketer had suffered enough. This clearly indicated that the single judge was of the opinion that Sreesanth was guilty of the charges, but he was of the view that he should not be given such a punishment.
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The Bench added that it was not open for the court to substitute the punishment imposed by the BCCI. The court also observed that Sreesanth had been given sufficient opportunity by the BCCI committee to explain his stand. In fact, he was not able to give cogent and reasonable explanation before the committee about the money transaction.
The BCCI had contended that the court could not reappraise the evidence. Considering the seriousness of the matter, there had to be zero-tolerance towards such corruption charges. The court could not act as an appellate authority over the decision making process of the BCCI disciplinary committee. It argued that the single judge should not have interfered with the quantum of punishment. Even if it was to be interfered, it could only have reduced the punishment. The court could not substitute the punishment. Besides, there was no finding by the single judge that there had been violation of principle of natural justice. The appeal filed against the lower court order discharging him was still pending before the Delhi High Court. It also contended that merely because the lower court had discharged him was not a ground for setting aside the decision of the BCCI.