SC makes Gavaskar BCCI’s interim president
Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the allegations against the BCCI president N. Srinivasan, the Supreme Court on Friday appointed renowned cricketer and former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar as the board’s interim president to discharge functions of IPL 2014 matches until its final order on Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing and betting scandal.
A bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Ibrahim Kalifulla, said in respect of regular functions of the BCCI, the senior-most vice president Shivlal Yadav would discharge the functions. It however permitted both Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals to participate in this year’s IPL matches commencing on April 16, and added that all those cricket lovers would continue to witness the IPL matches.
The Bench also barred any person associated with Indian Cements, the owners of Chennai Super Kings franchise, from participating in the activities of the BCCI. The Bench, however, made it clear that this ban would not apply to cricketers or commentators employed by Indian Cements from discharging their functions.
‘Dhoni did not give any false statement’
Senior counsel Aryama Sundaram, appearing for the BCCI refuted the allegations made by senior counsel Harish Salve on Thursday that the Indian cricket team captain M.S. Dhoni gave a false statement before the Justice Mudgal panel that Gurunath Meiyappan was only a cricket enthusiast. Since Mr. Dhoni, who was also the vice president of Indian Cements, which owns CSK, was guilty of corrupt conduct as he gave such a false statement, Mr. Salve had said.
Mr. Sundaram took exception to Mr. Salve’s allegation and said Mr. Dhoni who was now in Bangladesh playing the ICC T20 World Cup matches, had been vilified without any basis. Counsel maintained that to a question whether Gurunath Meiyappan was taking part in decisions associated with cricket in Chennai Super Kings, Mr. Dhoni had deposed that Mr. Meiyappan was not participating in any decision making process. Mr. Dhoni had unnecessarily vilified without any basis, he said. Counsel said not allowing the two teams CSK and Rajasthan Royals from participating in IPL 2014 would result in serious repercussions.
The Bench said Mr. Gavaskar should not function as a commentator during this period and the BCCI would adequately compensate him monetarily for this period. The Bench said it would be open to Mr. Gavaskar to decide whether the COO of IPL, Sundar Raman, should continue with IPL activities or not. The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on April 16.
