The Supreme Court made franchisees – CSK and RR – liable for “misconduct” of Meiyappan and Kundra.
The court cites three instances when N. Srinivasan’s dual role as BCCI office-bearer and IPL team owner amounted to conflict of interest. One, when the BCCI awarded a compensation of Rs.10.40 crore to CSK on account of the cancellation of the Champions League Tournament in 2008. It said Mr.Srinivasan was part of the “self-serving decision”.
Two, when a similar award of a sum of Rs. 13.10 crore came in 2009, and thirdly, when betting allegations came against his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan.
However, the court exonerated him of allegations that he had misused his official position to cover up Mr. Meiyappan’s betting activities. It observed that it is “difficult to hold that the circumstances provide a preponderance of probability [in] the charge of cover-up levelled”.
The judgment confirmed the Justice Mukul Mudgal probe committee’s findings and held Mr. Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra, part-owner of Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL team, guilty of betting. It dismissed the claim that Mr. Meiyappan was no team official, but a cricket enthusiast.
The Bench also made franchisees – CSK and RR – liable for “misconduct” of Mr. Meiyappan and Mr. Kundra.
“Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra are accepted as team officials, their misconduct, which has adversely affected the image of the BCCI and the league as also the game, and brought each one of them to disrepute can result in imposition of one or more of the sanctions. It is noteworthy that those sanctions are not limited to Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra alone, but may extend to suspension of the team or the franchisee from the league also,” the court held.
It asked whether the BCCI, which it held as conducting a “public function” and amenable to writ jurisdiction, can live with the idea that game is being played to cheat the public.
The Bench said it would not be fair to leave the task of deciding the quantum of punishment for of CSK, RR, Mr. Meiyappan and Mr. Kundra to either BCCI or to the apex court itself.
So, it ordered the setting up of a three-member high-powered committee, led by former Chief Justice of India R.S. Lodha, with former Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R.V. Raveendran as members to decide the quantum of punishment. Any decision taken by this committee would be “final and binding on the BCCI”.
The judgment said the committee would further recommend measures to streamline the BCCI elections, eligibility of candidates and criteria for disqualification. It would evolve a mechanism to deal with conflict of interest situations and further probe the role of IPL COO Sundar Raman.
The committee has been given further powers to bring in any recommendations it sees fit in the BCCI functioning. It has been given a time frame of six months from Thursday to complete its tasks.
