"Srinivasan can take over as BCCI president, but we have also formed a new probe panel to investigate the case," ruled A.K. Patnaik, one of the two judges who heard the case.
The court appointed a three-member panel headed by a former judge to investigate the scandal that has rocked the popular Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Srinivasan, 68, widely regarded as the most powerful man in world cricket, had been barred by the court from taking charge since his election as the BCCI chief for a third year on September 29.
Earlier, rejecting the BCCI's suggestion for a probe by a special committee into the scandal, the court on Monday had said it wanted an independent panel that will not only investigate the scam but also give recommendations to the Indian cricket board.
Senior BCCI office-bearers welcome Supreme Court order
The committee will be headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court chief justice Mukul Mudgal, with its other two proposed members being additional solicitor-general N. Nageshwar Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta, who is also vice president of the Assam Cricket Association.
The bench said the new panel will hold an independent inquiry into the spotfixing issue and submit its report to the apex court.
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It may be recalled that earlier a probe panel comprising two former judges of the Madras High Court had been formed by the BCCI and IPL governing council, which gave a clean chit to BCCI president N. Srinivasan, his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Mr Srinivasan's company India Cements, which is the owner of IPL team Chennai Super Kings.
This report, which had raised eyebrows, was quashed by the Bombay High Court. The SC had later upheld the HC's order. In their quest to paint a rosy picture about the health of Indian cricket, BCCI president N. Srinivasan and former treasurer Ravi Savant’s note in the Board’s Annual Report doesn’t have a single mention of IPL-VI spot-fixing scandal that rocked Indian cricket.
Secretary Sanjay Patel’s two-page note has a passing mention of the spot-fixing and betting scandal involving big names and the BCCI president’s tainted son-in law Gurunath Meiyappan.
The Annual Report that has a dedicated page on Anti-Doping Methods and Age-Verification Process, also doesn’t mention IPL’s first Indian dope cheat Pradeep Sangwan’s name while it stated that “364 U16 cricketers failed age verification tests.” Former treasurer Savant’s note in the report also has ample indications that IPL-6’s sponsorships as well as ticket receipts have seen a drop from last year.
The 128-page Annual Report of BCCI has the controversial Tamil Nadu strongman terming the year as “memorable and eventful for Indian cricket”.
However, Page-3 of the report that carries the president’s note, only waxed eloquent about the achievements of the various cricket teams including the senior, ‘ A’ team, U-19 and U-23.
Srinivasan concluded his note stating, “IPL, in its sixth year, was a great success in terms of cricket content and attendance at all matches”.
Patel, in his secretary’s report (on Pages 5 and 6), never used the word “spot fixing” anywhere.
Instead, Patel wrote, “The BCCI responded strongly to crisis arising out of IPL-VI. The concerns have been addressed and continue to be dealt with and BCCI will do whatever is necessary to protect the game.” Only in Page 17 of the report, which contains the decisions of the Working Committee during the whole year there is a mention of a probe panel being formed to investigate into charges against Meiyappan.
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