Supreme Court of India(SCI) disqualifies Srinivasan from BCCI polls and holds Meiyappan, Kundra guilty Thursday Jan 22,2015

 

Supreme Court of India(SCI)Judgement Thursday Jan 22,2015
A bench comprising of justices T.S. Thakur and M.I. Kalifullah made it clear that he “cannot wear two hats”, the court, in its 138-page judgment, said -

asked N Srinivasan to choose between BCCI President’s post or ownership of Chennai Super Kings
and disqualified him from contesting the BCCI polls to be held within six weeks till he had any form of commercial interests in the game

 

cannot be allowed to return to the helm of affairs of the Board as long as there is a “clear conflict of interest between his duty as President of BCCI on the one hand and his interest as father-in-law of Gurunath Meiyappan and owner of team CSK on the other''

also found N Srinivasan’s son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings(CSK) team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan, and co-owner of Rajasthan Royals(RR) Raj Kundra guilty of betting and having links with bookies during last year’s IPL

made franchisees – CSK and RR – liable for “misconduct” of Meiyappan and Kundra.

The SC cites 3 instances when N. Srinivasan’s dual role as BCCI office-bearer and IPL team owner amounted to conflict of interest. One, when the BCCI awarded a compensation of Rs.10.40 crore to CSK on account of the cancellation of the Champions League Tournament in 2008. It said Mr.Srinivasan was part of the “self-serving decision”.

Two, when a similar award of a sum of Rs. 13.10 crore came in 2009, and thirdly, when betting allegations came against his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan.

However, the court exonerated him of allegations that he had misused his official position to cover up Mr. Meiyappan’s betting activities. It observed that it is “difficult to hold that the circumstances provide a preponderance of probability [in] the charge of cover-up levelled”.

The judgment confirmed the Justice Mukul Mudgal probe committee’s findings and held Mr. Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra, part-owner of Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL team, guilty of betting. It dismissed the claim that Mr. Meiyappan was no team official, but a cricket enthusiast.

scrapped an amendment to the Rule 6.2.4 of the BCCI which allowed administrators (like N Srinivasan) to own a team saying “it is the true villain in the situation at hand”. 

“An amendment which perpetuates such a conflict of interest cannot be countenanced and shall have to be struck down,”

The bench comprising of justices T.S. Thakur and M.I. Kalifullah appointed a new 3-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha to decide the quantum of punishment against Meiyappan, Kundra and their franchises and asked to complete the procedure within 6 months