Srinivasan vs CAB: Who will reign supreme today?

The Supreme Court will hear two Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) respectively today. The hearing assumes importance as the court's observations will determine whether the Indian board's president-in-exile, N Srinivasan, will be able to attend the BCCI's working committee meeting in Kolkata on Sunday.

N Srinivasan

On Wednesday, the board's treasurer Ravi Savant had hinted that Srinivasan, who stepped aside after the spot fixing scandal exploded in May, could be chairing the working committee meeting that is likely to take some crucial decisions, including the date of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Some top legal eagles will be facing off today as Nalini Chidambaram, wife of Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Harish Salve will be appearing for CAB.
"The BCCI filed a SLP against the Bombay High Court verdict. We also filed an appeal in Bombay High Court requesting to set up its own commission to investigate spot fixing and betting in IPL. As the Supreme Court observed that both issues are co-related, it will hear both petitions on Friday," Aditya Verma, CAB Secretary, said yesterday.

The hearing could bring either joy or could end up adding to Srinivasan's woes. He is desperate to get back at the helm of the world's richest cricket body.

The CAB, which itself is fighting for recognition by the BCCI, had dragged the board to the Bombay High Court soon after the board's two-member probe panel consisting of former judges from Tamil Nadu, gave a clean chit to Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra, owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, respectively in the spot fixing saga that rocked IPL VI. Meiyappan is Srinivasan's son-in-law. After the High Court rejected the BCCI probe panel for being "unconstitutional", the Board appealed to the Supreme Court.

On August 7, the BCCI filed its own SLP against the High Court judgment. In its SLP, BCCI asked how the Bihar body's public interest petition could be entertained when the Indian board was a private body.u00a0