JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Monday said there was no point in reinstating N Srinivasan as the BCCI president till he was cleared by the Justice Mukul Mudgal panel, investigating allegations of corruption, including betting and spot-fixing, against him and 12 others in the IPL 7.
A bench of Justices TS Thakur and FMI Kalifullah granted two months’ extension to the panel headed by Mudgal, former chief justice of Punjab and Haryana HC, to complete the probe but allowed it to file an interim report, relating to the role of any individual.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Srinivasan, urged the court to allow him to discharge his function since his signature was required for clearing the annual account of the BCCI before the AGM at the end of the month.
He also wanted the court to reveal if there was anything in the report submitted by Mudgal on August 29 in a sealed cover.
Rejecting Sibal’s plea, the bench said, signing account book could not be a ground for reinstatement. “There is no point of reinstatement at this stage. That (singing of accounts) cannot be a ground for the purpose,” the bench said.
With regard to the findings, the bench said even though no comment has been made against him in the report, there was no occasion to reinstate as the probe was still going on.
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for the panel, sought more time to complete the investigation stating the committee has to still record statements of witnesses, including players currently on English tour and match voice samples.
During the hearing, the bench seemed not satisfied with the pace of probe. “We saw the report. Two months’ time for completion of probe does not seem realistic. The way in which it is going on, it will take five years. It’s going to be a tough task for the Committee,” the bench said, posting the matter for further hearing on November 2.
With this verdict on Srinivasan, the BCCI may find it tough to host the Annual General Meeting as scheduled by the end of September.
"As of Monday we haven't sent any notice for the working committee meeting (which would actually call the AGM). But it seems it would extremely tough for us to host the AGM this month," the top BCCI official said.