Supreme Court bars N Srinivasan from contesting BCCI elections

Srinivasan gets clean chit on charges of cover-up; Meiyappan, Raj Kundra found guilty of betting

The Supreme Court on Thursday barred former BCCI chief N Srinivasan from contesting BCCI elections citing a conflict of interest. While the apex court gave him a clean chit on charges of covering up a betting scandal that has plagued the Indian Premier League (IPL), it asked him to choose between the BCCI President's post and owing the Chennai Super Kings team in the IPL.

The court has directed the BCCI to conduct elections within 6 weeks of the order. 

The apex court, however, found Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals franchise co-owner Raj Kundra guilty of betting on matches and upheld the charges made in the Mudgal Committee report. 

The Supreme Court bench also struck down the controversial 6.2.4 clause that allows BCCI officials to own IPL teams. Coming down heavily on the former BCCI chief, the court said that the argument that Srinivasan owns a minor share of India Cements -- he is also the managing director of the firm -- is misleading because his family owns the company and hence he has a controlling interest in the IPL team.

In its 130-page judgement delivered today, the court, however, observed that Srinivasan was not guilty of a cover-up and that there was, at best, only a case of suspicion against Srinivasan. 

The India Cements stock rallied on the news of the clean chit and closed nearly 10% higher at Rs 112.35. 

The court also emphasised that since BCCI functions are public ones, they are amenable to judicial review. 

The court has appointed a independent committee under former Chief Justice RM Lodha, Ashok Bhan and RV Ravindran to decide further action against CSK and Rajasthan Royals.