Court dismisses CAB petition on sealed envelope

The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the Cricket Association of Bihar's (CAB) petition that asked for the court to hand over the final Mudgal report on corruption in IPL 2013, along with the sealed envelope containing thirteen names related to the investigation, to the Justice Lodha probe committee that is currently entrusted with the case.

The two-judge bench of Justices TS Thakur and FMI Kalifulla also allowed the Lodha panel an extension till December 31 to suggest reforms to the functioning of the BCCI, a task handed to the panel by the court.

The sealed envelope referred to by the CAB was the one handed over to the Supreme Court by the Mudgal committee in February 2014, which contained the names of 13 individuals and allegations of sporting fraud against them. Four of those individuals, including former BCCI president N Srinivasan, had been named by the court and the Mudgal committee was asked to continue its probe into the 13 individuals and was given greater investigative powers. Its final report was submitted in November 2014.

When Nalini Chidambaram, the CAB's legal counsel, opened her arguments, Justice Thakur questioned why her client was keen on handing over the Mudgal committee report and the sealed envelope to the Lodha panel - why could the Lodha panel not seek, if it wanted, the same? "If the Committee wants to look into it without affecting the image and reputation of some persons, it can consider it," Justice Thakur said. "So long as no request comes from Justice Lodha Committee on record, there is no need of passing any order."

It is understood that the Lodha panel has not found it necessary to ask the court for the same as the entire investigative material of the Mudgal probe committee is available to them. All the three reports prepared by the Mudgal committee were made available to BB Mishra, the investigative officer who had been appointed to probe the allegations against IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman, one of the four names disclosed by the court along with former BCCI president N Srinivasan and the now banned pair of franchise owners - Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra.

According to a BCCI official if the Lodha panel wanted, it could "requisition" the material from Vivek Priyardashni, the investigative officer who has replaced the now-retired Mishra. More importantly, the official pointed out, it was not part of the Lodha panel's mandate to probe the names mentioned in the envelope. "It is a question of merely whether it is germane or not germane with reference to administrative reforms [which the Lodha panel has been tasked with recommending]. There is no task put to the Lodha committee to further investigate or punish any of the people in the sealed envelope," the official said.

Asked why the CAB found it necessary to file the plea, Chidambaram said her client feared all the hard work of the Mudgal probe committee could be laid to waste otherwise. "The Mudgal committee took the pains of investigating the corruption scandal and gave a sealed cover naming 13 persons, adding further investigations needed to be done [against those named]. A detailed investigation followed and a third report was submitted. But only excerpts from the third report were given to us. So we said all the time and effort of the committee has gone to waste."

Hence, Chidambaram said, the CAB wanted the third report of the Mudgal committee along with the sealed envelope be made available to the Lodha panel. It could only help them in their current exercise of suggesting BCCI reforms, the counsel said.

"This is necessary since the Justice Lodha Committee has to have the benefit of the full text of the Justice Mudgal Committee report to appreciate the extent of the malaise which has set in in the game of cricket, so that while suggesting the administrative reforms for BCCI it can suggest measures to ensure that in future the reputation of the game of cricket will not be sullied by any scam.

"If the full text of the third report is not given to the Justice Lodha Committee, the time and effort spent by Justice Mudgal Committee and the investigating team and the heavy expenditure incurred by the respective governments will go totally to waste," the CAB had noted in its plea, which was filed earlier this week.