IPL governing council to discuss court cases, Modi

After months of controversy, litigation and confusion, ten teams will take part in IPL 4 after all. An IPL governing council meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday is expected to ratify the BCCI's decision to suspend its legal battles with the Rajasthan Royal and Kings XI Punjab franchises. It is understood that the board will not approach the Supreme Court to overturn the Bombay High Court's stay on the termination of Rajasthan and Punjab for their alleged violations.

"I doubt if the board will raise any further contentious issues," one of the governing council members told ESPNcricinfo. According to him the board is not interested in raising any further barriers to preparations for IPL4, which kicks off with the player auction on January 8 and 9 in Bangalore.

There are, however, still some concerns remaining on both sides. Rajasthan and Punjab obtained their bank guarantees as dictated by the court but the franchises still remain sceptical about the BCCI's next step. On the other hand, the BCCI wants to know if the franchises have cleared all their outstanding payments. "The only clarification we will now seek is whether the players from the two franchises have been paid their dues," the IPL insider said.

The franchises were told to submit the guarantees - US$ 10.63 million for Rajasthan and $21.50 million for Punjab to cover the cost of players' salaries and the teams' contracts with the BCCI - as a condition laid down by court for keeping the stay against their expulsions in place.

The other item on the IPL governing council's agenda on Wednesday will be a discussion on the implications of the Bombay High Court's recent decision to issue a temporary stay (until January 10, 2011) of all proceedings of the BCCI's disciplinary committee investigating charges against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi. Modi has repeatedly the composition of the committee, and a vacation judge declared that there was a prima facie case to halt the proceedings.