New Delhi, The Supreme Court installed former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar as the interim head of India’s troubled cricket board on Friday in place of the scandal-tainted incumbent N Srinivasan. As interim president of BCCI, Gavaskar will exercise all powers concerning IPL.
An apex court bench headed by Justice AK Patnaik said Gavaskar would only be concerned with matters related to the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). All other BCCI duties will be handled by former test cricketer Shivlal Yadav, a senior vice president of the BCCI.
The apex court also allowed Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, the two teams at the centre of investigations into illegal betting and spot-fixing, to play during IPL season 7 and the IPL matches will go on as per schedule.
Gavaskar will decide whether Sundar Raman, CEO of IPL, shall continue or some other person has to be engaged, the Supreme Court said. The SC on Tuesday had told Srinivasan to step down as the BCCI chief to enable free and fair probe in the betting and spot-fixing scandal involving his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and some cricketers.
Several players were arrested last year, including test paceman Shantakumaran Sreesanth, for allegedly spot fixing – or conceding a specified number of runs in exchange for money from bookmakers. The court did not penalize any teams or players as part of the judgment.
“This judgment is for cricket lovers, we do not want to suspend any team or player before the IPL,” Justice A.K. Patnaik said. The court will reconvene on April 16 to hear the matter further, the court said. Judges had said on Thursday that both sides should be barred from the eight-team tournament which is to start in Abu Dhabi on April 16.
Srinivasan’s position on the BCCI has been considered untenable since a three-member committee, headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal, found Chennai Super Kings team principal Meiyappan guilty of being in contact with illegal bookmakers in its report forwarded to the Supreme Court.
Srinivasan said that Meiyappan was just a cricket enthusiast” even though he was seen regularly at players’ auctions and in the team dugout. Meiyappan spent two weeks in jail last year before being granted bail.
Bureau Report
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