BCCI and Modi asked to reach compromise

India's Supreme Court has asked the BCCI and Lalit Modi to reach a compromise over the composition of the disciplinary committee investigating charges levied against the former IPL chairman. In a surprising turn of events, which was sparked by a plea from Modi's lawyer, the court said it would resume hearing the case if the parties could reach no agreement by October 27.

The court also offered two suggestions for the compromise: to increase the size of the existing committee or have its three members stay away from the league's governing council, which is authorised to look into the disciplinary committee's report on Modi. The disciplinary committee currently comprises IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the president of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association."I am hoping good sense will prevail on the BCCI and they will accept this suggestion," Modi's lawyer, Mehmood Abdi, told CNN-IBN.

Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, however said the board had neither been asked nor ordered to reach any settlement in the matter within a deadline. He said, "At about 10.30 in the morning Mr Ram Jethmalani (Modi's lawyer) stood up and asked to use his 'good offices' to settle the issue." The BCCI's lawyers, Manohar said, responded by saying they had no such instructions on this. The court then asked Jethmalani to use those good offices and come to an agreement by October 27. Asked whether the BCCI would enter into a discussion with Jethmalani, Manohar said, "We are always ready to listen to anyone."

Modi had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the removal of Amin and Jaitley from the disciplinary committee. Modi's plea for the recusal of these two members, on grounds of bias against him, had been rejected by the Bombay high court in September.

The BCCI's lawyer CA Sundaram told the court that it was not feasible to reconstitute the committee. "It is not possible," he said. "The inquiry is at an advanced stage. Many witnesses from abroad have already been examined."

The BCCI had suspended Modi immediately following the conclusion of IPL 3 in April and charged him with financial irregularities relating to the bidding process for IPL franchises, the mid-over ad sales and the sale of theatrical rights. He was also charged with colluding to set up a rebel league in England. Modi has denied all the charges and repeatedly accused BCCI president Shashank Manohar and the president-elect N Srinivasan of harbouring personal grudges against him.