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The Supreme Court today appointed Sunil Gavaskar as the interim working President of the BCCI for IPL 7, saying that the upcoming IPL season will go on as per schedule.
Allowing stakeholders in the cash rich Indian Premier League to breathe easy, the Supreme Court added that the two franchises under the scanner - Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals - will not be banned from IPL 7.
As interim president of BCCI, Gavaskar will exercise all powers concerning IPL, the SC ruled. It had yesterday proposed the name of Sunil Gavaskar as interim BCCI President in place of N Srinivasan.
Gavaskar replying to the SC proposal had yesterday said that he was ready to take the responsibility and that he would be “honoured” and “happy” to adhere to the directives of the highest court of the land.
The court said that Gavaskar should not do commentary during his stint as the BCCI President, adding that he would be compensated for the BCCI top job. The apex court also said BCCI vice president Shivlal Yadav will look after the other affairs of the Board.
In a packed-courtroom, the bench made it clear that no employee of India Cements, except players and commentators, will be allowed to get involved in any duties or activities of BCCI.
It also said that it is for Gavaskar to decide whether the present Chief Executive Officer of IPL, Sundar Raman, to continue on his post or to be replaced after allegations were levelled against him in the court of protecting Srinivasan.
Reacting to the interim order passed by the Supreme Court, Justice Mudgal said while speaking to a news channel, "I think the (interim) order is a balanced one which keeps in mind the BCCI administration, purity of the game and the interest of the players."
The cricketing fraternity hailed the Supreme Court's decision to appoint Sunil Gavaskar as the IPL commissioner, saying his experiences and straight forward nature will help bring back credibility to the tournament.
In the meantime, BCCI pleaded with the court to allow Srinivasan to hold the post of International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman from July. But the bench refused to pass any order regarding this.
The BCCI also vehemently rejected the allegations levelled against Indian cricket team captain M S Dhoni by counsel Harish Salve, who accused him of "covering up" Gurunath Meiyappan.
"He has been wrongly vilified by media after false allegations were leveled against him in the court yesterday. He never made a statement that Meiyappan was just a cricket enthusiast as submitted by senior counsel Harish Salve," senior advocate C A Sundaram, appearing for BCCI, told the bench.
"The Statement made yesterday was false," he further said.
