News

BCCI grants five-day deadline extension to Modi

The BCCI has agreed to grant the five-day extension of the deadline requested by Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL chairman, to file his replies to the board's chargesheet

Cricinfo staff
10-May-2010
Lalit Modi has until May 15 to file his replies  •  Indian Premier League

Lalit Modi has until May 15 to file his replies  •  Indian Premier League

The BCCI has agreed to grant the five-day extension of the deadline requested by Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL chairman, to file his replies to the board's chargesheet. Modi was previously expected to appear at the BCCI headquarters on Monday to respond in person to the charges. The 15-day deadline that was initially agreed upon expires on Tuesday.
Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer, confirmed Modi's request: "Lalit Modi has requested the board president Shashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan to extend time. He was supposed to reply to the show-cause notice today. The board has taken a decision to extend time up to the May 15."
According to Shetty, Modi sought the extension because he wanted some more documents from the board that would help in preparing his defence. Modi was suspended by BCCI on April 26, soon after the conclusion of the IPL, which sent him a show-cause notice asking him to reply to a slew of charges relating to the conduct of the high-profile Twenty20 league. Modi was alleged to have indulged in financial deals without the knowledge of the IPL Governing Council, bid-rigging and of behavioural pattern which was not acceptable.
On Saturday, Mehmood Abdi, one of Modi's lawyers, submitted the first set of the documents to the board. Abdi was back in the board office today with the remaining papers including minutes of IPL Governing Council meetings, bid documents, franchisee agreements and all contracts starting from 2008 onwards. "This is the final phase of handing over of papers to the board from our side. We had earlier submitted a bigger bulk of papers on May 8," Abdi said.
The first set of documents, both original as well as notarised copies, included all franchisee agreements, global media rights agreements, global media rights packages, all bid documents, media rights licensee agreements, eligibility letters of bidders with details and sponsorship agreements entered into by IPL.
Modi has retained a copy of all the documents, which according to Abdi ran into thousand pages. "These have been endorsed by Shetty," Abdi pointed out.
BCCI sources said Modi's reply, once it comes in, will be taken up by the board's three-man disciplinary committee, comprising Manohar and two vice-presidents - Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin, who was appointed the interim IPL chairman after Modi's suspension. "The disciplinary committee is likely to meet in mid-June," a BCCI official said.