Ahead of Sunday’s crucial election of BCCI to select its president and office bearers, the Supreme Court gave a severe blow to its president N Srinivasan’s chances to get a re-run by restraining him from taking charge if he got elected.
Srinivasan’s continuation at the helm of BCCI was questioned by the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) following the involvement of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and the IPl franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) owned by him, in the cricket spot fixing scandal, currently being probed by the Mumbai Police.
Braving all odds, Srinivasan, whose term as BCCI president came to an end on September 9, sought to answer his detractors by a possible win, of which he remained confident. In the election to be held on Sunday, the Southern Zone will have an upper hand to elect the president, and Srinivasan, who also heads India Cements, had ensured a smooth run.
Just when everything was thought to be in place, the Supreme Court unshackled Srinivasan’s calculations. CAB counsel and senior advocate Harish Salve pointed to the ample evidence gathered against Srinivasan’s son-in-law in the spot fixing case, sufficient to indicate that the rot run deep within the BCCI and also within the IPl franchisee owned by Srinivasan. Meiyappan was the Team Principal of CSK when the spot-fixing scandal broke, that made Salve question how a fair and transparent probe can be conducted if Srinivasan continued at the helm.
BCCI submitted that the meeting could not be called off as all 37 cricket associations had arrived for the annual general meeting (AGM) while Srinivasan’s counsel RF Nariman accused the petitioner of stretching his petition too far to challenge the Sunday election.
Faced with the facts, the bench of Justices AK Patnaik and JS Khehar asked, “If his son-in-law is involved why he is incharge…Why are you so keen to be elected.” While allowing election to proceed, the Court ordered stay on Srinivasan to head BCCI.
Even if elected, his continuation rests with the SC, which will take a call on Monday on whether the present circumstances create a ground for his removal.