NEW DELHI, Jan 22 � In a setback to N Srinivasan, the Supreme Court today barred him from contesting any BCCI election on grounds of conflict of interest and set up a judges� committee under a former Chief Justice of India to decide on the punishment in the IPL scam that can threaten the future of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), reports PTI.
Delivering its long-awaited verdict, the court held that the allegation of betting against Gurunath Meiyappan, a CSK team official and son-in-law of the BCCI president-in-exile and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra, stands proved, while the charge of cover-up against Srinivasan �is not proved�.
Striking down rules that permitted BCCI office-bearers to have a commercial interest by owning teams in the hugely popular Indian Premier League and Champions League, a two-member bench of Justices TS Thakur and FMI Khalifulla, said, �Amendment in the BCCI rules allowing Srinivasan to own IPL team is bad as conflict of interest in cricket leads to great confusion.�
�No one who has commercial interest including N Srinivasan shall be eligible for any post in the BCCI and this disqualification on ground of commercial interest shall continue till such commercial interest will exist,� the bench said, while asking the BCCI to hold its AGM for electing office-bearers within six weeks.
Reading out from the judgement, Justice Thakur said the �allegation of cover-up� in the probe of IPL spot fixing and betting against Srinivasan over the involvement of Meiyappan is �not proved� and �at best there�s only a case of suspicion against Srinivasan of cover-up�
It said not only players and team officials, but �franchisees will also be punished for misconduct�. The future of CSK and IPL could be in danger as IPL rules provide for cancellation of the franchise for misconduct by players, owners and officials of a team.
Setting up a committee of judges headed by former CJI R M Lodha, the bench said �to remove bias� and to have a process which will be �objective and transparent� there was a need for an independent committee to decide the quantum of punishment likely to be awarded to Meiyappan and Kundra and to decide the fate of the teams.
The committee, also comprising Justices Ashok Bhan and R V Raveendran, both retired judges of the apex court, will further probe the allegation of betting against BCCI chief operating officer Sunder Raman and if found guilty, will award the punishment.
