The Special Bench of the Supreme Court have firmly shut the doors on Board of Control for Cricket in India president-in-abeyance president N Srinivasan from entering the hallowed portals.
The Special Bench of the Supreme Court have firmly shut the doors on Board of Control for Cricket in India president-in-abeyance president N Srinivasan from entering the hallowed portals.
Srinivasan's apparent attempts – from divesting his holding in the Chennai Super Kings to chairing the BCCI meetings on his self-explanatory 'clean chit' from any wrong doing – fell flat on Monday as the Special Bench warned him from showing any more disrespect to the court orders delivered on January 22.
In a clear warning to Srinivasan, the two-judge bench of Justice TS Thakur and FM Kalifullah asked Srinivasan's counsel Kapil Sibal to "make him realise the spirit of court orders".
"If he can't contest, how he can hold the post?" asked the top court.
Starting the contempt proceeding on Monday, Cricket Association of Bihar's counsel Nalini Chidambaram drew the Court's attention towards BCCI Working Committee meeting in Chennai on February 8 that Srinivasan presided over as president.
"There is no ambiguity in the orders of this honourable court. Look at the newspaper reports (referring to dna's report on February 11 along with another report where Srinivasan explained why he chaired the meeting) that he has told the working committee members that he is going to chair the AGM on March 2 in Chennai. This is nothing but a clear contempt of the court orders delivered on January 22," Chidambaram briefed the Special Bench.
"Can the country be run on the basis of newspapers?" Sibal tried to dismiss the articles.
As Sibal got up to defend Srinivasan saying that the Apex Court orders were clear that "till either the conflict of interest continues or he is cleared by the committee, Srinivasan was only barred from contesting elections and not chairing meetings".
As Sibal began his deliberation saying, "Srinivasan has been cleared of any wrong doing by the Court," the Court intervened and said that "nowhere in the orders, he (Srinivasan) has been cleared".
"We've given him benefit of doubt on the cover up issue only. Nowhere, he (Srinivasan) has been given clean chit. The essence of the orders were that both (Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra) persons were held guilty of wrongdoing and the quantum of punishment has to be fixed by the three-member high power committee appointed by the Court," the two judges concluded.
"Our orders were very clear in this regard. The actions of Srinivasan make him very vulnerable," observed Justice Thakur.
Despite this strong observation, Sibal continued his reply: "He (Srinivasan) has been painted black for everything which he does. I understand legally his position is vulnerable. But we have to understand that there are so many people in the Board who have enormous faith in his leadership. I can assure the Court that Srinivasan is so much in love with this game that he is ready to give up anything for this."
Sibal was clearly hinting at Srinivasan's apparent move of divesting his personal stake in Chennai Super Kings' amongst the India Cements shareholders in order to be eligible for the BCCI top post again.
On hearing this, the Court's tone changed... "We understand he is so much in love with the game. But what about the Court orders. Does that mean he doesn't have any respect for that?" asked the Court.
"The spirit of the order is that we have found that there is clear cut conflict of interest. We appointed Shivlal Yadav as interim president. How can you ignore the fact that we clearly said that he is not qualified or eligible to contest. And still he continued to chair the meetings. It's the same situation that a person has been barred from entering this Court room. How can he then decide to sit on this chair (judge's chair) to preside over?" Justice Thakur observed.
By now, Sibal realised that Srinivasan's game was over and he pleaded before the Court to not issue the contempt notices to Srinivasan and other BCCI office bearers. "Please give us time till Friday and I will take instructions from my client," pleaded Sibal.
The Court accepted his plea with a remark that "this is not any kind of acrimonious match".
The matter has now been posted for Friday.
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