Onus on disproving conflict of interest on Srinivasan: SC

Supreme Court puts onus on BCCI President-in-exile N Srinivasan to prove that there's no conflict of interest involving him that came in the way of a probe into the IPL-6 scam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today put the onus on BCCI President-in-exile N Srinivasan to prove that there was no conflict of interest involving him that came in the way of a probe into the IPL-6 scam and took strong exception to his counsel "repeatedly" naming Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the proceedings.

"You are repeatedly naming Jaitley who is not represented here. He is not a party here. Don't attribute it to a person who is not represented here," a bench comprising justices T S Thakur and F M I Kalifulla said. The remarks were made while Srinivasan's counsel Kapil Sibal was stressing that a BCCI panel set up to probe the scam was constituted on the suggestion of Jaitley, who was of the view that the inquiry should be free from BCCI's interference.

BCCI’s president-in-exile N Srinivasan in Chennai on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

Sibal said the issue of Jaitley's view was reflected in the record and later referred to in the minutes of May 28, 2013 working committee meeting to substantiate his submission.The bench proceeded with the hearing saying "If you mention name, you have to mention the context because he is not represented.

"Since the major part of the hearing today was on the issue of conflict of interest involving Srinivasan, the bench said "We have a different opinion on the conflict of interest issue. You have to lift the veil." Sibal was arguing that there was no finding either bythe Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee or the Bombay High Court against him on the conflict of interest issue.

The senior advocate said "even if you lift the veil you will not find anything on conflict of interest and they (rivals) only want him to remove (from BCCI)."Responding to his contentions, the bench said it was upto him to "demonstrate" that there was no conflict of interest as the question has arisen on admitted facts.

Sibal said at no point of time was Srinivasan given an opportunity either before the Mudgal Committee or the High Court to address the issue of conflict of interest.

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