Decide probe panel composition in 6 days, Modi, cricket board told

Published>Thu, Oct 21 10 06:17 PM

New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi to decide within six days the composition of a panel probing alleged financial lapses by Modi.

The apex court bench of Justice J.M. Panchal and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra gave time to both BCCI and Modi to work out a compromise on the composition of the disciplinary committee.

Senior counsel Ram Jethamalani told the court that since the BCCI had taken the stand that it was not possible to change the composition of the committee, he would discuss the matter with his client Modi.

The court also suggested that at this stage it would let the existing committee go ahead with the inquiry.

However, when its report is discussed in the annual general body meeting of the BCCI, three members of the inquiry committee Chirayu Amin, Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia would not participate in the meeting.

The court said that both the contending parties would next Wednesday report back to the court the outcome of their efforts to arrive at a compromise. In case of a deadlock, the court will resume hearing the matter from then onwards.

The court suggestion for working out a compromise came even after the BCCI Wednesday declined to consider the apex court's suggestion for reconstituting the committee.

The BCCI told the court that the inquiry had reached an advanced stage and at this 'late' stage it was not possible to constitute the committee in view of Modi's objection that the existing panel was not free from bias.

Modi is upset over the presence of Chirayu Amin, the new Indian Premier League commissioner, who he says along with BCCI president Shashank Manohar had participated in the meeting that decided to hold an inquiry against him.

On Wednesday, the court told senior counsel C.A. Sundaran, appearing for the board, that the board had already diluted the composition of the committee after Manohar withdrew from it. The court wondered why it could not reconstitute the panel by changing another member.

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