Supreme Court suggests fresh probe panel to BCCI

New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday suggested setting up of a three-member panel, headed by former chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal, to probe alleged betting and spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The apex court bench headed by Justices A.K. Patnaik and J.S. Kehar sought the respective views of the petitioner Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) and respondent Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on its suggestion for the probe panel. 

The apex court was dealing with a petition by the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) seeking an interim ban preventing BCCI chairman N. Srinivasan from being a member of any committee of the Indian cricket board. 

The Supreme Court also proposed the names of Additional Solicitor General L. Nageswara Rao, a former cricketer, and senior advocate Nilay Dutta, who is also member of the Assam Cricket Association (ACA), as the other two members in the committee.

The apex court asked the counsel of the CAB, represented by senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and the BCCI to come up with their suggestions and adjourned the case till Tuesday morning.

The Supreme Court last Monday declined to revoke its order restraining BCCI president Narayanaswami Srinivasan from assuming office on his re-election. Srinivasan was elected unopposed for a third year in office at the BCCI AGM in Chennai, Sep 29.

CAB, which is not recognised by the BCCI, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court pleading that Srinivasan be barred from contesting the BCCI presidential election. 

The petition was filed on the ground that Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan is being probed by Mumbai police for placing bets in IPL matches. Meiyappan, along with Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf and Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh, has been named in the charge-sheet filed by the Mumbai police.

The apex court allowed Srinivasan to contest the election but said that he cannot discharge his duties.

Earlier, a two-member BCCI probe panel comprising Justice T. Jayarama Chouta and Justice R. Balasubramanian, former judges of the Madras High Court, had given a clean chit to Meiyappan, former team principal of Chennai Super Kings, and Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals, in the betting scandal in the IPL.

But the Bombay High court, reacting on a petition filed by the CAB, said that the two-member commission was illegal. The BCCI went in appeal to the Supreme Court.