The Bombay High Court squarely blamed the ex-cricket board chief Srinivasan saying the BCCI probe panel, set up by him to probe the IPL spot-fixing and betting charges, was instituted in utter violation of its own rules. The court also said a prima facie case is made out that BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan was involved in its formation with the only motive to save his and son-in-law’s skin. The two-member panel that went into the charges against India Cements, owners of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, its former Team principal Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of Srinivasan, and Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals on July 28, had given a clean chit to all those against whom the probe was conducted. The court, which struck down as "illegal and unconstitutional" the panel in a severe blow to BCCI and Srinivasan, however, refrained from ordering a new committee of retired judges.
It held that forming a new probe commission is the prerogative of the board. “The probe 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," said justices MS Sonak and SF Vajifdar in a 61-page verdict delivered Tuesday which may thwart Srinivasan's bid to regain full control of the BCCI. The court was hearing a PIL filed by the Bihar Cricket Association and its secretary Aditya Verma challenging the constitution of the commission set up by BCCI and IPL governing council after surfacing of the betting and fixing scandal. "These are indeed very serious allegations in a matter which is even more serious. On this issue the most that can be said in favour of the petitioner at this stage and in this proceeding is that it has made out a prima-facie case that Srinivasan was involved in the formation of the commission," the bench said.
The least that must be said in favour of the petitioner is that the respondents have not established that Srinivasan had no role to play in the formation of the commission, the judges said. Armed with the panel's clean-chit, Srinivasan was expected to reclaim his position in the cricket board after stepping aside for the duration of the inquiry. The panel comprised two former judges of the Madras High Court–justices T Jayarama Chouta and R Balasubramanian. "In our view the commission has been constituted contrary to the operational rules…," the judges observed while disposing of the PIL. The court said rule 2.2 of the operational rules mandates presence of at least one member of the IPL code of behavior committee on the commission.
