Apex Court asks Srinivasan to choose between CSK, BCCI

SRINI TELLS COURT THAT NOT CONTESTING ELECTIONS WILL HARM HIS INTEGRITY AND REPUTATION

NEW DELHI: Suspended Indian cricket board N Srinivasan told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that he could not be barred from contesting for the BCCI president’s post, as the court asked him to choose between owning the Chennai Super Kings IPL team and the board.

Representing Srinivasan, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal said his client could not be prevented from fighting the election at the board’s annual general meeting this month as it would harm his integrity and reputation. The court will have to take a decision before that as it too goes on a winter break after on December 17, the same day the AGM is to be held.

Sibal said Srinivasan could step aside while either a courtappointed committee or the Justice Mukul Mudgal panel probing spot-fixing and betting allegations in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, could decide the quantum of punishment for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) teams that were found guilty.

However, the court said it would prefer a board without Srinivasan to take action against CSK or its principal promoter and Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan.

The two-judge bench reprimanded Srinivasan for attending BCCI’s working committee meetings as a member of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association when he was not board president.