Court defers decision on Srinivasan's position until October 7

India's Supreme Court has deferred till October 7 its decision on a petition against BCCI president N Srinivasan that sought to restrain him from taking charge of BCCI.

In arguments on Monday, the BCCI contended that Srinivasan should be allowed to discharge all duties except for IPL affairs, to which Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) counsel Harish Salve objected. The IPL, he argued, cannot be differentiated from the BCCI. The court then asked both parties to come up with a common solution to conduct the investigation into the IPL teams and owners' alleged involvement into the IPL corruption scandal.

"We will welcome an independent probe commission appointed by the Supreme Court but if the BCCI tries to distance itself from the IPL, then it will be difficult to form consensus about the structure of the commission," the petitioner Aditya Verma, the CAB secretary, said.

PTI reported that the BCCI's counsel suggested that the probe committee to investigate the IPL corruption scandal could be headed either by the former BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley or by lawyer Vinay Dutta. Salve didn't agree with the suggestion, but said he would consider it.

"Let us apply our mind as to how the probe has to be done because there has been a rot and we have to see whether the rot is limited to IPL or how long the rot runs deep and has any bearing on BCCI," Salve said. The court also asked Srinivasan not to be in a "hurry" and allow the CAB to mull over his suggestion for the constitution of the panel.

Last week, the CAB filed a plea asking the Supreme Court to restrain Srinivasan from contesting the BCCI elections. On September 27, a court ruling permitted Srinivasan to attend the board's annual general meeting and contest for the president's post, which he won unopposed on Sunday. However, the ruling said that if elected, Srinivasan could not take charge of the board pending the Court announced its verdict on a special leave petition filed by Cricket Association Bihar - against an earlier order of the Bombay High Court - related to the constitution of BCCI's independent IPL probe committee.

The matter dates back to a plea that the Cricket Association of Bihar filed in June, raising charges of conflict of interest in the formation of the two-member inquiry panel set up to inquire allegations of corruption in the IPL. A Bombay High Court ruling later termed the probe panel "illegal". The BCCI and the CAB filed petitions in the Supreme Court against this order, with the CAB contending that the Bombay High Court could have suggested a fresh mechanism to look into the corruption allegations.