N Srinivasan refuses to budge, Supreme Court to decide BCCI chief's fate tomorrow
Chennai: The day of reckoning for Indian cricket is here. The orders of the Supreme Court Thursday will have a direct bearing on how BCCI will act in tackling the spot-fixing and betting scandal and many other associated ills. A Supreme Court enabled Special Investigation Team is the route most indicated and orders are expected to be passed to this effect.
Mr Srinivasan's legal tactics in a fresh affidavit asking for a repeat of the 'stepping aside' is unlikely to cut ice with the top court that seems intent on getting to the bottom of the IPL scandal and putting in place a deep cleansing process. Justice Mudgal panel's confidential report to the top court has condemned the manner in which the system has tried to correct the evils that have been in existence in Indian cricket for at least 20 years now.
The top court's powers are so sweeping. It can accept the findings of the Justice Mudgal committee report and on the basis of that even appoint an Administrator or Committee of Administrators to run the BCCI. The great danger would be for BCCI to raise the court's ire in any manner and push it into acting severely since the Societies Act under which BCCI is registered in Chennai is subject to a lot of action by supervisory authorities.
It is also learnt that voice recordings of depositions in front of the Mudgal committee reached, through sustained leaks, people it should not have. The matter is likely to come up for adverse comment if Mr Mudgal has addressed the issue in his confidential report to the top court.
Former BCCI presidents Shashank Manohar and A.C. Muthiah have come down heavily on Mr Srinivasan on much the same lines as the court, which dubbed his continued clinging to the president's chair as ‘nauseating.’ Of course, the former presidents’ calls for suspending IPL-7 or omitting teams from it may not find favour since any bans now would only lead to more litigation.
A poll run by a popular cricket website was overwhelmingly for Mr Srinivasan to step down from BCCI, but the issues around such an event are legally complicated, especially since the president will not step down on his own and will offer only to step aside as his affidavit in court is likely to plead Thursday. The day will have a huge impact on the future of cricket in the country.
