The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday approached the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court (HC) order describing its IPL probe panel on spot-fixing and betting charges as “illegal and unconstitutional.”
In its special leave petition, BCCI claimed that the panel was constituted in accordance with well-settled legal norms and as per rules.
Seeking a stay on the verdict, the board contended that the HC should not have entertained a PIL on the issue as there was no allegation relating to violation of anyone’s fundamental rights.
The probe panel, comprising former judges T Jayaram Chouta and R Balasubramanian, had given a clean chit to Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI’s then president N Srinivasan and Rajasthan Royals co-promoter Raj Kundra. The findings could have ensured Srinivasan’s return as board president.
The HC, however, had on July 30 held that the two-member panel was constituted in violation of the rules framed by the BCCI.
“The commission was not duly constituted and was contrary to and in violation of the provisions of Rules 2.2 and 3 of Section 6 of the Operational Rules (of BCCI),” it had said.
The HC had passed its order while hearing the PIL filed by the Bihar Cricket Association and its secretary Aditya Verma.