BCCI commission to investigate allegations is invalid: IS Bindra

IS Bindra, the president of the Punjab Cricket Association, was one of only two people who claimed to have asked BCCI president N Srinviasan to step down at yesterday’s emergency working committee meeting (the other being Ajay Shirke). A clearly worked up Bindra spoke to the press afterwards to denounce the meeting and lament the harm being down to the BCCI’s reputation. Today, Bindra took to his blog to elaborate on some of the points he raised yesterday. The most startling revelation is that yesterday’s meeting was just an informal one because the mandatory 72 hours notice under the BCCI constitution had not been given to its members. The implication is the decisions taken at the meeting are not binding on the BCCI or its members. Srinivasan effectively continues to retain all his powers as president, and can exercise them legally no matter what agreement may have been struck between everyone present. [caption id=“attachment_837963” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jagmohan Dalmiya is temporarily the man to lead the BCCI. Getty[/caption] Another point that Bindra emphasise is the appointment of the three-member commission which is supposed to investigate the allegations against Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. According to Bindra, the members of the commissions were selected by Sundar Raman, the chief executive of the IPL, Peter Griffiths from IMG, Ratnarkar Shetty, the board’s chief administrative officer, and two members of the BCCI’s legal team. None of them have legal standing to appoint such a commission and therefore the panel is “void ab initio (to be treated as invalid from the outset)”. Bindra suggests the following three steps to restore the faith of the fans: - Mr. Srinivasan must resign till such time the investigation and the probe reaches its conclusion. - The probe has to be fair and independent and the people on it must be of impeccable repute - The most important thing is to go into the whole gamut of issues relating to to corruption in cricket, putting in place proper checks and balances at the domestic level coupled with strict vigilance and exemplary punishment at all levels. You can read Bindra’s full post here.