Srinivasan officially reinstated as BCCI boss

India's Supreme Court orders president to stay away from new IPL probe.

NEW DEHLI: India's Supreme Court yesterday reinstated N Srinivasan as the country's cricket chief, but ordered him to stay away from a fresh enquiry into an  alleged spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League (IPL) .

Srinivasan, 68, widely regarded as the most powerful man in world cricket, had been barred by the court from taking charge since his election on September 29 as chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a third year.

"Srinivasan can take over as BCCI president, but we have also formed a new probe panel to investigate the case," ruled A K Patnaik, one of the two judges who heard the case.

The court appointed a three-member panel headed by a former judge to investigate a scandal that has rocked the popular IPL Twenty20 tournament run by the BCCI.

The probe will be separate from investigations by police, who have filed charges in court against a string of officials, players and bookmakers for illegal betting on the IPL.

A cricket body in the eastern state of Bihar which is not affiliated with the BCCI had petitioned the court to prevent Srinivasan's return on moral grounds because his son-in-law had been charged in the scandal.

Srinivasan, who has not himself been accused of any wrongdoing, stepped aside temporarily as BCCI president in June when Meiyappan was named in the scandal.

"Srinivasan has himself made it very clear that he would not be involved in the investigation of IPL match-fixing allegations," BCCI lawyer Aryama Sundaram told reporters outside the court.



"It is not a setback for either the BCCI or Srinivasan. The independent probe panel was suggested by Srinivasan himself much earlier."

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2013.

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