Supreme Court asks N Srinivasan to choose between BCCI and CSK

N Srinivasan

The Supreme Court of India has asked the ICC Chairman and BCCI president in exile N Srinivasan to make a choice between being the BCCI President and remaining as the co-owner of Chennai Super Kings. The BCCI elections are scheduled to take place on December 17.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the two judges who were conducting the proceedings, Justice TS Thakur and Justice FM Kalifullah, made it clear to the 69-year-old that he will have to pick one of the two posts.

"If you wish to contest as president, your investment is endangered. If you don't fight the elections, your investment is safe," they said.

Justice Thakur added that the court "did not want to take punitive action against BCCI, announce punitive measures, as we don't want to short-circuit the BCCI machinery" and asked the board to “tell us what can be done to decide quantum of punishment".

In response, the BCCI gave many options to the court, with regards to the volume of punishment that should be given to Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan, for his alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.

They were: the BCCI disciplinary committee to decide on the quantum of punishment; the court to appoint a two-member committee, independent of the BCCI; the court to nominate members of the IPL governing council to decide on the quantum of punishment; the court to form a two-member committee of former judges to decide the punishment; the Mudgal panel to decide on the punishment to be meted out.

Out of these options, the panel of judges had a detailed discussion on the fourth option which dealt with the board appointing a two-member committee of former judges to make the decision on the punishment. The decision those judges would have to make is whether Srinivasan’s role in the entire matter was objectionable or not and whether both Srinivasan and Meiyappan deserved any punishment or not.

Srinivasan’s legal counsel, Kapil Sibal, had presented another option on Monday, wherein Srinivasan could step aside and the working committee of the board would take a decision. However, that option wasn’t given by the board to the court.

“Why were you present at the working committee meeting?” - SC asks Srinivasan

The court also criticised Srinivasan’s presence in the two working committee meetings he had attended as the head of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA).

"We can understand your passion for the game but not so much passion. You attended the working committee meeting as recently as three weeks ago. If you keep attending meetings then how will you stay away from the Board?" the court asked.

Srinivasan was also asked whether the money he invested was due to genuine affection for the game or for other reasons.

"Have you invested money in cricket only for the love of the game? Business is business," the judges remarked.

Speaking for Srinivasan, Sibal too admitted that attending the working committee meeting “may not have been the right call… but I wasn't taking any decisions." He also gave the court a written word that the ICC Chairman will not attend any working committee meeting as TNCA chief from now onwards.

The hearing will resume on Wednesday. The lawyers appointed for the IPL, Meiyappan, Raj Kundra and Rajasthan Royals will be given 45 minutes each to put forth their point of view. After that, the litigants and the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) will make their final arguments.