India's supreme court on Monday delayed N. Srinivasan's return as the country's cricket chief, saying there was "something seriously wrong" with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, according to the AFP. The 68-year-old cement tycoon "had been elected unopposed" as the head of the BCCI for a third year on Sunday. But the court "barred Srinivasan from taking charge until it had ruled on a petition against him over a spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League." During Monday's hearing, the court said, "The fact that so many things are coming out of the IPL and BCCI, something is seriously wrong with the apex body controlling cricket. Why has the BCCI lost its credibility? The only thing to be seen is how Srinivasan being the president will affect the IPL probe." The court also fixed Oct. 7 "as the next date of the hearing" (AFP, 9/30). The PTI reported the court asked Srinivasan not to be in a "hurry" and allow the Cricket Association of Bihar to mull over his suggestion that "a committee under the chairmanship of either Arun Jaitley or Vinay Dutta, both of whom are lawyers, be constitued to probe the IPL spot-fixing scandal, also involving his son-in-lay Gurunath Meiyappan." Senior Advocate C.A. Sundaram, appearing for the BCCI, said that certain actions, as per the constitution of the cricketing body, are required to be done by the president and it was willing to assure the bench that "so far as IPL is considered, he (Srinivasan) will have no role." He then suggested constitution of a committee for probing the IPL spot-fixing by a panel to be headed either by Jaitley or Dutta" (PTI, 9/30).
HITTING BACK: In New Delhi, Sanjjeev K. Samyal wrote former IPL Chair Lalit Modi "vowed to hit back and expose the powers-that-be in the richest and most powerful Board in world cricket." Modi alleged that Srinivasan "was solely responsible for the alleged financial violations that took place in the conduct of the IPL in South Africa four years ago." Modi said, "As I have maintained, this was all a huge conspiracy spearheaded by N. Srinivasan and his buddies. They needed a fall guy, and as I was the outsider in their club, I was made the same" (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 9/30).
