No intervention before Mudgal report - Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India will wait for the Mudgal Committee report before deciding on a plea against the postponement of the BCCI's annual general meeting to November 20.

With sidelined BCCI president N Srinivasan set to contest the election for another term, the Cricket Association of Bihar had filed an interlocutory application on September 16, asking the court to direct the BCCI to hold its AGM with immediate effect. Aditya Verma, the CAB secretary, had also stated in his application that it was illegal for Srinivasan to stand for the BCCI elections as his name featured in the Mudgal probe.

The court heard counsels from CAB, BCCI and Srinivasan and directed the next hearing to take place on November 10, by when the Mudgal panel, interrogating allegations of corruption in the 2013 IPL, is expected to have submitted its report.

Nalini Chidambaram, the CAB counsel, said the court decision should not be read as a shot in the arm for the BCCI and Srinivasan. "The court said that if the Mudgal report is adverse to Srinivasan, then he cannot contest," Chidambaram told ESPNcricinfo.

Verma said that the BCCI has been asked to respond by November 10 to his objections to the postponement of its AGM.

BCCI's AGM, where the new office-bearers are elected, had been postponed to November 20 because of the court orders that forced Srinivasan to step aside until the investigations into the IPL 2013 corruption scandal were complete. The ambiguity over the powers of the interim president, Shivlal Yadav, had added to the issues surrounding the delay of the AGM.

The original petition filed by the unrecognised CAB's secretary Verma had resulted in the appointment of the Mudgal Committee to independently investigate the IPL corruption case. The committee's report was not ready by September 30, which is the latest, according to its constitution, that the BCCI can hold its AGM.

Verma sought the court's intervention again when the BCCI postponed the AGM. During the hearing on Monday, the CAB's counsel referred to the BCCI's constitution to argue that such a postponement was illegal.

Section 16 (i) of the constitution says, "The Annual General Meeting of the Board shall be held every year, not later than 30th September at such place and time as the President may fix."

Section 35 says, "These Rules and Regulations of the Board shall not be repealed, added to, amended or altered except when passed and adopted by 3/4th majority of the members present and entitled to vote at a Special General Meeting convened for the purpose or at the Annual General meeting."