The Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) on Tuesday requested the Supreme Court to direct the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to impose a sanction on sidelined president N Srinivasan.
The CAB, on whose petition the top court is monitoring the probe into allegations of betting and spot-fixing against Srinivasan and 12 others, also urged the court to make public the entire report submitted by the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee. This, the petitioner said, would put an end to the media speculations about the involvement of players in the IPL case.
The two-judge bench, headed by Justice TS Thakur, will also hear the matter on Thursday. The bench said that Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan's role in the scandal is like "insider trading".
"If Meiyappan was leaking information and someone else was putting bet, then it is like insider trading," the bench said to the petitioner's submission that Meiyappan was part of Chennai Super Kings(CSK) and was always with team members at all functions whether it was the dug-out or formulating team strategy.
Appearing for CAB, senior advocate Harish Salve submitted that "a sanction between the period of two to five years can be imposed on him (Srinivasan) and the court can direct the BCCI to constitute an external committee to enforce its own rules".
Salve said the BCCI discharges the public functions as the body represents the whole country and has its own set of rules to maintain checks and balances and also maintains transparency in it.
"Caesar's wife has to be above suspicion," Salve said. "If BCCI does not clean its own house, then the court's indulgence is required to clean it up." Salve also requested the court to consider its judgment on former Chief Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas, whose appointment was annulled by the court. Salve said that an institution's integrity must be maintained and, going by that verdict, action should be taken against Srinivasan.
During the argument, Salve produced IPL accreditation documents that clearly show Meiyappan as Team Principal of the Chennai Super Kings. However, Srinivasan had said before the panel that Meiyappan was merely a "cricket enthusiast" and had nothing to do with CSK.
The bench raised questions on why the final report of Mudgal Committee was silent on the alleged cover-up of Meiyappan by CSK owner Srinivasan.
It, however, asked him to show direct findings against Srinivasan in the Mudgal committee report on the next date of hearing. The BCCI, which opposed the petitioner's move to make the report public, had earlier said the judicial panel has given a clean chit to Srinivasan.
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