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SC reserves order on plea against ban on CSK

The Lodha panel had banned CSK and Rajasthan Royals after holding that its top officials like Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan were found involved in betting.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved it's order on a PIL by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy challenging the two-year ban imposed on IPL franchisee Chennai Super Kings (CSK) over the 2013 betting scam involving its top official Gurunath Meiyappan.

"We will pass the order," a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said when Swamy claimed that being a cricket lover, he has been deprived of watching the play of CSK whose players have not been accused of any mischief.

The bench, during the hearing, observed that the findings of the Justice R M Lodha panel and its recommendation for imposing ban on the CSK and Rajasthan Royals, has "become final".

"The findings of the Committee have become final. We had referred the issue to the Lodha panel and they chose to impose a ban of two years on CSK and this has attained finality," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

The court can look into this aspect if it is found that the punishment was "disproportionate" to the offence, it said.

At the outset, Swamy alleged some BCCI officials, including then President Shashank Manohar, Lalit Modi and Aditya Varma of Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) conspired against N Srinivasan, also a former BCCI head.

He said the apex court should seriously look into the allegation that the litigation, pursued by CAB in the High Court and in the apex court, was financed by Lalit Modi. He also alleged that Modi, Shashank Manohar and others conspired to oust Srinivasan and CSK for hurting Tamil sentiments.

The bench reminded Swamy that Meiyappan, son in law of Srinivasan, was a CSK official and found guilty of betting in IPL and moreover, there was the issue of conflict of interest with regard to Srinivasan as well.

"Ban imposed on CSK is unreasonable, illegal and arbitrary and there were no allegations against either Srinivasan or against any players of CSK. There is nothing against CSK, yet it has been banned for two years," Swamy said adding there have been e-mail exchanges among Modi and others which amply indicated conspiracy in the case. The Lodha panel had banned CSK and Rajasthan Royals after holding that its top officials like Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan were found involved in betting.

The BJP leader said he had nothing against the Lodha panel and was confining himself to the ban on CSK which has become victim of "conspiracy". Earlier, in his plea before the Supreme Court, Swamy had sought a CBI probe into the petition filed before it by CAB. He had alleged that his earlier plea was wrongly rejected by the Madras High Court on the issue.

The high court on January 20 had dismissed Swamy's PIL challenging the suspension of CSK and Rajasthan Royals, saying it was not maintainable. Star-studded CSK, then led by M S Dhoni, and Rajasthan Royals were on July 14 last year suspended for two years from the Indian Premier League in a clean-up exercise following the 2013 betting scam involving their top officials Meiyappan and Raj Kundra.

Meiyappan, son-in-law of then BCCI chief N Srinivasan and a former Team Principal of CSK, and Kundra, co-owner of Jaipur IPL that runs Rajasthan Royals (RR), were suspended for life from any match conducted by BCCI.

The punishments were handed down by a three-member panel headed by former CJI R M Lodha which was asked by the Supreme Court to decide the quantum of punishment after finding them guilty of betting. The Madras High Cout had also dismissed a similar petition by the owner of CSK challenging Justice Lodha panel's order.

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