BCCI in embarrassing situation after court order: Dalmiya

Indian cricket board's interim president Jagmohan Dalmiya Tuesday conceded that the BCCI was in an embarrassing situation following the Bombay High Court order terming as illegal the board panel that was probing the betting and spot fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"I don't have the details yet and I don't know if it is a crisis or not. I want to say I am equally in the dark. But this has certainly put us in an embarrassing situation," Dalmiya told media persons here.

Dalmiya's comments came after the Bombay High Court questioned the appointment of the two-member panel comprising retired Tamil Nadu High Court judges T. Jayaram Chouta and R. Balasubramanian.

The panel had absolved IPL franchises Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings of spot fixing charges, besides bigwigs Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan, who are associated with the two teams.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) earlier suspended Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI president N. Srinivasan, and Rajasthan Royals' part owner Raj Kundra, and asked Chouta and Balasubramanian to conduct an internal investigation.

"The entire matter needs to be re-investigated. There was disparity in the evidence collected by the probe panel," the high court said on a public interest writ filed by Naresh Matani, who challenged the panel's constitution.

The high court also questioned how the BCCI itself could conduct a probe into the spot fixing scam, and ordered the setting up of a new committee to conduct the investigation.

Dalmiya, who made a return to the top of the BCCI June 2 when Srinivasan agreed to step aside till the pendency of the probe, said he was yet to receive the order.

He also did not give a definitive answer when asked about the course the BCCI would chart out now. "That is a million dollar question."

The seasoned cricket administrator said he had no clue who would chair the Aug 2 BCCI working committee meeting in Delhi.

"I myself don't know where is the chair...I have to first understand where I stand... I don't have any information officially."

However, Dalmiya hastened to add that there were no differences in the BCCI.

He said the board had adopted a 12-point programme to clean up the game after he took charge June 2.