New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it can still hear the PIL seeking to declare BCCI a national sports body as the apex court is only dealing with the IPL spot-fixing allegations and related subsequent probe.
“The issue of declaring BCCI a national sports federation is not before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee is probing the spot-fixing issue,” a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw said.
“This court can still decide the prayer that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) be declared a national sport federation as this issue not before the Supreme Court,” it said.
The court’s observation came when the counsel for BCCI said the Supreme Court is dealing with the issues raised in the PIL.
BCCI also opposed the plea of NGO Association for Social and Humanitarian Affairs that it should file a copy of the report of the Justice Mudgal panel on the IPL spot-fixing. “You (BCCI) file a fresh affidavit,” the bench said.
The NGO had, in 2013, filed the PIL seeking a direction that BCCI be taken over by the Union Sports Ministry. It had also sought banning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) till foolproof corrective measures are taken to stop alleged corrupt practices in it.
Initially, the NGO, which had moved the court through its President Kuldeep Singh Bhogal, had also sought judicial supervision of the investigation into the IPL spot-fixing scandal case in which various players and others were arrested last year.
The petition also quoted various newspaper reports to say that the bookies are operating from Karachi and Dubai.
Later, the apex court entertained another PIL seeking to ban the IPL in the wake of spot-fixing scandal.
