With cricket control board secretary Sanjay Jagdale having quit his post, N. Srinivasan’s mentor-turned foe A.C. Muthiah on Saturday said the three-member inquiry commission to go into the IPL-related scandal now enveloping Indian cricket set up by the under-fire BCCI president, should be done away with.
The panel — comprising of two former judges of the Madras High Court and Jagdale, who resigned on Friday — was instituted to probe allegations of betting in the Indian Premier League against Srinivasan’s son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings principal Gurunath Meiyappan, CSK itself and the Rajasthan Royals franchise whose players were arrested for their alleged role in spot-fixing.
“Whoever appointed the three-member committee, will realise the total illegality of constitution of the probe committee and dissolve the said committee rather than create more confusion and embarrass the two retired judges by filling up the vacancy created by the resignation of Mr. Jadgale,” Muthiah said in a statement.
The former BCCI president also reiterated his demand for Srinivasan’s resignation.
“In the present circumstances there is no other option except for Mr N. Srinivasan to resign from the post of president of BCCI in order to maintain probity in public life. BCCI cannot be treated like a private club.
“As the Board controls the profession of cricketers, its actions are required to be judged and viewed by higher standards. It is furthermore unfortunate that room for suspicion has been created that all its dealings are not fair. The Board has been accused of shady dealings and double standards.”
Muthiah pointed out in his statement that the setting up of the committee was unacceptable as there was a conflict of interest in the exercise itself.
“The appointment of the panel has been made by BCCI of which Mr N. Srinivasan is the president. Even though Mr N. Srnivasan has made a statement that he will distance himself from the probe it is incongruous that the probe panel is appointed by the BCCI whose president is Mr N. Srinivasan and BCCI will be assisting the panel in the investigation when the franchisee of Chennai Super King is India Cements Ltd of which Mr Srinivasan is the vice-president and managing director,” Muthiah said.
“Conflict of interest is very blatant leading to grave doubts about the efficacy of the probe.”