Supreme Court allows BCCI to go ahead with AGM

The Supreme Court Friday allowed the Indian cricket board to go ahead with its Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for Sunday in Chennai but with a rider that president Narayanaswami Srinivasan cannot take charge even if he is re-elected for a third term.

The apex court bench headed by Justice A.K. Patnaik said that in case Srinivasan gets re-elected, he will not take charge till the court decides on a petition by the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), which is not recognised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The court directed the matter be listed for Monday.

CAB secretary Aditya Verma Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking to restrain Srinivasan from getting re-elected as the president of the BCCI on the ground that his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan is facing probe on the allegations of spot fixing and betting.

Verma, in his application, also sought to restrain the BCCI from inducting Srinivasan in any of its committees as a member or allow him to participate in any of the proceedings in any capacity.

The pressure is mounting on Srinivasan not to seek a third year as BCCI chief in view of Meiyappan being charged by Mumbai police in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scandal, but he is adamant on seeking re-election.

Meiyappan, who is the principal of IPL side Chennai Super Kings, owned by Srinivasan's company India Cements, has been named in the 11,500-page charge sheet along with Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh.

Srinivasan has distanced himself from Meiyappan, who was among the 22 people formally charge by the investigators.

The charge sheet does not mention any instance of spot-fixing in the IPL matches. All the accused have been charged with cheating, gambling, conspiracy and forgery.

Srinivasan's name also figures among those charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a corruption case involving YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.