Srinivasan set to be dropped from disciplinary committee

BCCI president N Srinivasan is set be dropped from the board's disciplinary committee, which would be reduced to a two-member panel © Associated Press

The BCCI's working committee is likely to drop board president N Srinivasan from the disciplinary committee, reducing it to a two-member panel, during the meeting in Delhi on Monday. The working committee is also likely to hand over the probe of the complaint against Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra to the two-member commission comprising two former High Court judges.

The committee will also examine the findings of BCCI's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Ravi Sawani in the alleged spot-fixing case against the three Royals cricketers and his recommendations.

Kundra, who owns 11.7% stake in the parent company of Royals, admitted to betting on his team's matches, according to Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar. However, unlike Gurunath Meiyappan, a team management member of Chennai Super Kings and son-in-law of Srinivasan who was arrested by Mumbai Police on similar charges before being released on bail, Kundra hasn't been arrested. As a result, the working committee will mostly likely forward the complaint against Kundra to the commission that was appointed to probe three previous complaints.

"Since the two-member panel is anyway going to investigate the complaints against Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Gurunath, and Kundra's complaint is related to the same case, it makes sense for the same commission to look into this complaint as well," a BCCI source told ESPNcricinfo.

Based on the arrests of three Royals players and of Gurunath, the IPL had registered a complaint against both the teams and Gurunath before constituting a probe. In Kundra's case, however, the IPL has already registered an internal complaint of allegedly violating the players' and officials' Code of Conduct and Anti-Corruption Policy.

The decision to remove Srinivasan from the disciplinary committee is expected to be formalised on Monday. In the first of these emergent meetings - in Chennai on May 19 - Sawani had been appointed to conduct preliminary findings into the spot-fixing complaints against Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, who were arrested on May 16.

As per the instructions issued by the Supreme Court, Sawani submitted his report to Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI in-charge, on June 6. As per the BCCI procedure, the working committee will now forward the report to the disciplinary committee and even though it cannot replace Srinivasan in the disciplinary panel, it will most likely drop him.

"According to the (BCCI) constitution, only the AGM can appoint the disciplinary committee. Since the president has decided not to be a part of day-to-day proceedings, the disciplinary committee has no option but to work as a two-member panel," a BCCI source said. The disciplinary committee will now comprise vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah.

The working committee is also set to ratify Sanjay Patel's appointment as the BCCI secretary after Sanjay Jagdale resigned during the corruption controversy. The committee is also likely to appoint a new treasurer after Dalmiya withheld T Venkatesh's appointment as Ajay Shirke's replacement. While Dalmiya, along with other BCCI functionaries, had zeroed in on the Karnataka State Cricket Association's treasurer as Shirke's replacement, a senior functionary realised after the decision had been made that Venkatesh hadn't attended at least two BCCI AGMs, which is a prerequisite to be appointed as an office bearer.

Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo

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