The Cricket Association of Bihar, the petitioner in the ongoing Supreme
Court case against the BCCI, says it will seek a bar on N Srinivasan
representing the board at the ICC, and will even look at taking the
legal fight on that front outside India. The case next comes up for
hearing before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
At the ICC, which has officially not registered any protest or public
discussion on Srinivasan's latest problem, one Full Member board
official said the CAB's plan "must be music to the ears" of his
colleagues on other boards. The ICC and the other nine Full Members -
who have deemed it an internal matter of the BCCI - are essentially
looking to the Supreme Court for a direction on the issue of Srinivasan
being the Indian representative at ICC board meetings.
The Supreme Court has so far held that Srinivasan "cannot come back as
BCCI president" until the completion of an investigation into the
alleged betting and spot-fixing scandals in the IPL. However, Srinivasan
attended the ICC meeting on April 9 and 10, and is set to become the new chairman in July.
In its hearing last Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked
Justice Mukul Mudgal - who carried out the initial report which led to
Srinivasan being ordered to stand down from BCCI duties - to take on a
more empowered investigation because the probe panel proposed by the
BCCI was mired in
conflict of interest. This Tuesday, the court is likely to hear from
the Mudgal panel about the terms of reference and nature of assistance
needed in carrying on with the probe.
With the court due to go into its vacation break on May 11, the
petitioners are likely to plead with greater urgency for Srinivasan's
exclusion from the ICC.
Aditya Verma, secretary of the unrecognised Cricket Association of
Bihar, said he was confident the court would be sympathetic to their
plea. "This is a clear-cut technical issue. If you have been barred from
the BCCI, how can you go to the ICC? The BCCI is a member body of the
ICC, and you are representing BCCI only, aren't you?"
The court could, however, take the view that the ICC is an international
body and doesn't fall under its jurisdiction, or even point to the
absence of any protest from the ICC or any of its members against
Srinivasan.
"The same happened with the BCCI," Verma said. "The BCCI members didn't
stand up to Srinivasan. Similarly, if the ICC doesn't stand up, and if
it doesn't fall under our court's jurisdiction, we won't shy away from
going and fighting it out in Dubai, where the ICC is based."
Earlier this week, Nalini Chidambaram, one of the plaintiff's counsel, had told ESPNcricinfo that they had already made a prayer
against Srinivasan's ICC role and she compared Srinivasan's insistence
on being part of the ICC to "a man who is not fit to be a High Court
judge but he wants to be a Supreme Court judge".
It is understood that at ICC's latest executive board meeting held in
Dubai on April 9-10, some of the board directors had raised concerns -
more murmurs than vocal objections - against Srinivasan's presence.
However Srinivasan is believed to have responded saying it was a few
disgruntled people trying to haul him up. His message, the member board
official said, was passed via the chairman of another board, who was
responding to the few questions that were raised.
Srinivasan's detractors say he is in direct violation of Rule 2.1 of the
ICC's Code of Ethics which states: "Each Director shall act in an
honest and ethical manner. In order to facilitate the transparent
operation of the ICC, conduct that gives the appearance of impropriety
will also be unacceptable. Directors shall not engage in any conduct
that in any way denigrates the ICC or harms its public image. No funds
or assets of the ICC may be used for any unlawful purpose, and no
Director may engage in unlawful conduct."
According to the member board official, the ICC Code of ethic says "each
of the directors have a positive obligation" to challenge Srinivasan.
According to Rule 8. 3 in the ICC's Code of Ethics: "Each Director has
the obligation not only to abide by the Code of Ethics, but also to
report violations of the Code of Ethics when they become aware of them."
Sidharth Monga and Nagraj Gollapudi are assistant editors at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Sidharth Monga
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