Dalmiya gets relief from Kolkata court

Jagmohan Dalmiya has received some breathing space in the issue regarding allegedly unexplained sections in the accounts regarding the PILCOM (Pakistan-India-Lanka Committee) case as a Kolkata court directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India to postpone the disciplinary committee hearing from August 15 to August 22.

PK Sarkar, a Kolkata civil court chief judge, issued the directive in response to Dalmiya moving the court challenging the BCCI summons to Dalmiya to appear before a disciplinary committee in Chennai on August 15. Gitanath Ganguly, legal counsel for Dalmiya, argued that the summons to his client was against the principle of natural justice.

Initially Dalmiya was summoned before the disciplinary committee on July 26, but pending his challenge in the courts the BCCI was forced to put off the hearing. The latest court verdict has given Dalmiya an extra week's time before he responds to BCCI charges of misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs. 40 crore. The amount is said to have been transferred from the Bhawanipore branch of Indian Overseas Bank to an account of the Cricket Association of Bengal, of which Dalmiya was the president.

The disciplinary committee of the BCCI dealing with this matter is headed by Sharad Pawar, the president, and also includes Shashank Manohar and Chirayu Amin, two vice-presidents of the board.