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In a major relief for BCCI Secretary, Mr N. Srinivasan, the Supreme Court today refused to restrain him from taking over as the Cricket Board President.
While allowing Mr Srinivasan to take over as BCCI chief, a Bench of Justices, Mr Aftab Alam and Mr R.M. Lodha, also made it clear that his appointment would be subject to the final outcome of a petition by former BCCI President, Mr A.C. Muthiah, questioning his eligibility for holding any Board post while owning an IPL team.
Mr Srinivasan is scheduled to take over as BCCI President from Mr Shashank Manohar on September 19.
The apex court passed the order on Mr Muthiah’s application pleading that Mr Srinivasan should be restrained from taking over the charge of the Board till disposal of his plea against him.
Mr Muthiah had earlier approached the apex court for restraining Mr Srinivasan from holding any BCCI post while owning IPL Chennai Super Kings team on the ground that it would lead to conflict of interest.
Earlier, an apex court Bench had given a split verdict on Mr Muthiah’s petition and the case was referred to a larger Bench.
On April 28, a two-judge Bench of Justices, Mr J.M. Panchal and Mr Gyan Sudha Mishra, had given a split verdict on whether an Indian Cricket Board administrator can hold stake in an IPL team and had referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India, Mr S.H. Kapadia, for referring the matter to a larger Bench for a decision.
The split verdict had come on an earlier plea by Mr Muthiah challenging an amendment in the BCCI regulation to exclude IPL and Twenty20 tournaments from its purview which he alleged was done to favour Mr Srinivasan who owns the T20 franchise Chennai Super Kings.
While Mr Justice Panchal had dismissed Mr Muthiah’s petition challenging the validity of the BCCI regulation amendment, Mr Justice Mishra allowed the petition holding that a Cricket Board office-bearer cannot have stake in the IPL team.
After the April 28 split verdict, Mr Muthiah had moved the apex court afresh on August 24 for restraining Mr Srinivasan from discharging his present duties as BCCI Secretary and from assuming charge as president.
The court, however, had refrained from passing any order on the fresh application and had instead directed Mr Muthiah’s counsel Ms Nalini Chidambaram to approach the Chief Justice for appropriate remedy.
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