N.Srinivasan has cataract surgery, chooses to remain mum on Supreme Court observation
The Supreme Court has asked Srinivasan to step down from his post of BCCI chief
Chennai: BCCI President N Srinivasan, who had a cataract surgery on Wednesday, continued to remain silent on the Supreme Court observation that he should step down for a fair probe into IPL fixing scandal.
Srinivasan's legal counsel P S Raman met him on Wednesday at his residence but declined to speak on the issue. "He (Srinivasan) had a cataract operation in the other eye this morning. I have come to meet him because of that. It is only a courtesy call", he told reporters.
When asked specifically whether Srinivasan was contemplating to step down in view of the Supreme Court observation, he refused to comment. It is also learnt that BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, who was in the United Arab Emirates to oversee the arrangements for the upcoming Indian Premier League, has cut short his visit and is expected to meet Srinivasan during the day to decide the future course of action.
Srinivasan's continued silence has raised speculation that he may not resign immediately but may wait for the hearing to resume on Thursday before taking a final decision. The court, which had yesterday asked BCCI chief as to why he was sticking to the chair, had given Srinivasan 48 hours to quit on his own.
The court had said if Srinivasan will not quit, they will pass an order for his removal. After going through the contents of a report filed in a sealed cover by apex court-appointed probe panel into the scandal, a bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik said there are "very very serious" allegations made in the report and unless the BCCI President steps down, no fair probe can be conducted.
Three of five BCCI Vice Presidents -- Shivlal Yadav, Ravi Sawant and Chitrak Mitra -- had put pressure on Srinivasan by saying that he should honour Supreme Court's observation but the Tamil Nadu strong man stuck to his guns. Srinivasan had stepped aside in June 2013 after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan's name cropped up in the fixing scandal, which had to led to ban on paceman S Sreesanth and his two other Rajasthan Royals colleagues.
In his absence, former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya discharged the duties of the President. However, at the BCCI AGM in September 2013, Srinivasan was re-elected as President. Supreme Court had appointed a three-member probe panel, led by retired judge Justice Mukul Mudgal to investigate into the fixing saga.
The Apex court-appointed panel had replaced BCCI's own two-man probe panel, which had exonerated Meiyappan of any wrongdoing and its verdict was challenged in the courts.