BCCI lose appeal against disciplinary committee stay

A division bench of the Bombay High Court has rejected the BCCI's appeal challenging the order staying the board's disciplinary proceedings against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi until January 10, 2011. The board's lawyers argued that the next round of hearings scheduled for December 27 and 28 should be allowed to continue, but the bench comprising Justice Abhay Oka and Justice UD Salvi disagreed, according to a statement sent to ESPNcricinfo by Modi's attorney, Mehmood Abdi.

Modi had filed a case claiming that the committee, which is made up of BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley, current IPL chairman Chirayu Amin and Jyotiraditya Scindia, was improperly appointed, and asked for the Court to stay the hearings. On December 25, Justice Kathawala held that prima facie there was an argument for halting the proceedings, and issued the stay order.

Modi has repeatedly challenged the composition of the committee, particularly objecting to the presence of Amin and Jaitley on the grounds of bias against him. His case was rejected by the Bombay High Court but the Supreme Court told the board and Modi in October to come to a compromise on the issue. However, the two sides have failed to do so and the case is still pending.