Supreme Court notice to BCCI on conflict of interest

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, on a petition concerning the latter's ownership of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise and asking whether it constituted a conflict of interest. The petition has been filed by former BCCI president AC Muthiah.

Srinivasan is the managing director of India Cements, the owner of the Chennai franchise. Muthiah has challenged the right of BCCI officials to have stakes in IPL teams, stating that it was a conflict of interest. His petition, filed last month, follows the Madras High Court's decision to dismiss a similar plea filed by Muthiah. He questioned the authority of Srinivasan convening the IPL governing council meeting on April 26, given his dual role of team owner and board secretary.

Under its original rules, the BCCI prohibited its office-bearers from having commercial interests in the league, but this rule was retrospectively amended in September 2008, eight months after the inaugural round of bidding for IPL franchises.

The court directive comes a day after it served a show-cause notice on suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi, based on complaints from the ECB chairman Giles Clarke.

Modi reacted to Muthiah's allegations, saying that it was an issue which needed to be sorted. "This is in court for sometime now. What Muthiah has been alleging is something that needs to be looked into," Modi told the news channel Times Now. "I am just starting to look at my paper work and yes I do think there is an issue here. At first glance there is a problem here and I will look into it seriously.

"Things have been done out here for sure and I have to see the paper trail that has been created in this case."