Srini must step aside: sports ministry

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BCCI president N. Srinivasan—PTI

Board of Control for Cricket in India president N. Srinivasan — already facing calls to step down from a growing number of Board members over the spot-fixing sage and its fallout — took a further hit on Wednesday with the Union sports ministry asking the Tamil Nadu strongman to resign from his post.

Joining former BCCI chief Inderjit Singh Bindra, who is Punjab Cricket Association president, on the day were IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla and Board vice-president Arun Jaitley in asking Srinivasan to step down. Jaitley is also DDCA president and the BCCI’s president-elect.
On Tuesday, Central minister and Madhya Pradesh CA president Jyotiraditya Scindia had made his position clear in saying that as long as there was a conflict of interest in the form of Srinivasan’s son-in-law being involved in the ongoing spot-fixing investigations, the former had to step down, even if temporarily.
“BCCI is inquiring into allegations of match and spot fixing. As there is a conflict of interest in this inquiry, therefore BCCI President should tender his resignation on moral grounds, pending the outcome of the inquiry,” a sport ministry statement said here.
“The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is in favour of a law to curb malpractices in all sports. It will send its comments on the bill drafted by the law ministry, and is looking forward to working with the law ministry and other stakeholders for the development of a comprehensive law against match and spot-fixing,” the statement read.
The BCCI had two days ago said it was setting up a three-member inquiry committee to also probe the charges against Meiyappan and the three arrested Rajasthan Royals players, the Jaipur-based franchise as well as CSK.
Justice T. Jayaram Chouta, former judge of the Karnataka and Madras high courts, Justice R. Balasubramanian, a former judge of the Madras High Court, and BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale are members of the Board’s inquiry panel.
The Ministry, meanwhile, said it was not in favour of legalising betting to curb corruption in sports.
“The ministry of sports has also observed that a section of the media has reported that it is in favour of a law regularising betting in the sporting events in the country.
“The ministry clarifies that betting is a state subject and cannot be part of a Central law. The ministry has made no recommendations to regularise betting to the law ministry or to any other organisation,” it said.