Post News Network & Agencies
New Delhi, Jan 22: He had remained defiant and arrogant even though the apex court of the country had suspended him from carrying out his functions as president of BCCI. He had all through assured his followers that everything will fall into place. But N Srinivasan’s world came crashing down Thursday. After almost 18 months of deliberations on the 2013 IPL betting and match-fixing scandal, the Supreme Court barred him from contesting BCCI elections till such time he had ‘commercial interest in cricket’ referring to his ownership of Chennai Super Kings. The court earlier said Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals were involved in betting. In its 130-page order, the court said Srinivasan was not guilty of cover-up and the ‘charges against him, at best, be regarded as suspicion’. The two-judge special bench however said ‘BCCI functions are public functions, amenable to judicial law’.
It turned out to be a bitter-sweet day for Srinivasan, who is also the first chairman of ICC. The top court observed that conflict of interest issues remained and Srinivasan will have to choose between his IPL team CSK and the top job in BCCI. In a significant decision, the court also struck down the controversial 6.2.4 clause that allows BCCI officials to own IPL teams and have commercial interests.
