SC to hear BCCI plea seeking transcripts April 16

The Supreme Court Friday said it will hear April 16 a plea by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seeking the transcripts of the depositions by Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, former board chief N. Srinivasan and IPL chief executive Sundar Raman before the Mukul Mudgal Committee.

The apex court bench headed by Justice A.K. Patnaik said it would hear the BCCI plea along with the main matter listed for April 16 as senior counsel C.A. Sundaram said that the cricketing body needed the transcripts of the audio tapes of the deposition by Dhoni, Srinivasan and Raman to argue their case before the court.

Earlier April 9 when the BCCI application was mentioned before Justice Patnaik, the court had said that it would hear the matter April 11.

However, as the BCCI application was taken up for hearing Friday, counsel for the Mudgal Committee informed the court that the transcripts of the depositions by Dhoni, Srinivasan and Sunder Raman have not been given to the court.

The court was told that all that has been placed before it is the report of the Justice Mudgal Committee along with the minutes of the meetings of the Committee.

As senior counsel Sundaram sought to impress upon the court that the transcripts of the deposition by the three were required for their response to the Justice Mudgal Committee report, the Court said it would consider the BCCI application along with the main matter listed for hearing April 16.

The senior counsel told the court that a lot of things were appearing in the media on this count. The Mudgal Committee has submitted its report on betting and spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) along with some material in a sealed cover.

Appointing Sunil Gavaskar as BCCI interim president March 28, 2014, in place of incumbent Srinivasan who is under cloud, the apex court had said that it would hold further hearing on the Mudgal Committee report and its recommendations April 16.

While appointing Gavaskar as interim president of BCCI, the bench of Justice Patnaik and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla had said that Gavaskar would only be in charge of the seventh edition of the IPL starting April 16 in the UAE.

The court entrusted the senior-most vice president of BCCI Shivlal Yadav to oversee the rest of the board's work.