Supreme Court delivers split verdict on BCCI rule amendment – Cricket update
The Supreme Court has given a split verdict on an appeal that challenged the clause by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding the exclusion of Twenty20 series and Indian Premier League (IPL) from its purview, today on April 28, 2011.
The issue has now been referred to the Chief Justice who may assign it to a larger bench.
Former president of Board of Control for Cricket in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, Annamalai Chidambaram Muthiah, had filed the petition, alleging that the modification was made to benefit N. Srinivasan, the cricket board secretary who is the owner of the IPL roster, Chennai Super
Kings.
Justice Panchal dismissed the appeal filed by A.C.Muthiah, while Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra accepted the petition, saying that a cricket board official should not be allowed to own an IPL franchise.
"If Srinivasan opts to hold interest in the IPL team, he shall be able to do so but restrained to hold any office in BCCI," stated Justice Mishra.
Muthiah had claimed that the amendment in the rules book was made without following the legally prescribed procedures for the BCCI. Regarding the decision to exclude the Twenty20 tournaments and the Indian Premier League from BCCI’s scope was termed as “illegal
and opposed to public policy”.
On the other hand the BCCI secretary accused Muthiah of bad intentions and he his complaint only reflects his ulterior motives. In order to buttress his claim, Muthiah informed the court about a series of events that followed up to the amendment of the clause
in September 2008.
Muthiah had argued that according to the original rules, the officials of the BCCI’s administration are not allowed to directly or indirectly have a commercial stake in the games or events organized by the board. He noted that the violation of the rule will
only result in a conflict of interests as is witnessed in the case where the Chennai squad is owned by the Indian Cement Limited. Srinivasan is a share holder, Managing director and the Vice President of the firm.
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