Chennai, Sep 25 (IANS): The Indian cricket board Wednesday banned for life Lalit Modi, former IPL chairman and commissioner, from all its activities on charges of serious misconduct and indiscipline.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decision came minutes after the Supreme Court rejected Modi's plea to put on hold the board's Special General Meeting (SGM) in Chennai.
At the SGM, chaired by BCCI president Narayanaswami Srinivasan, Modi was "found guilty of committing acts of serious misconduct and indiscipline, and therefore, in exercise of powers as per Regulation 32 of the Memorandum and Rules and Regulations of the Board" banned him for life.
"Resolved that Mr. Lalit Modi is guilty of committing acts of serious misconduct and indiscipline, and therefore, in exercise of powers as per Regulation 32 of the Memorandum and Rules and Regulations of the Board, Mr. Lalit Modi be and is hereby expelled from the BCCI. He shall forfeit all his rights and privileges as Administrator. He shall not in future be entitled to hold any position or office, or be admitted in any Committee or as any member or associate member of the Board," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in a statement.
The SGM discussed the 134-page inquiry report submitted by the BCCI's special disciplinary committee, comprising senior vice-president Arun Jaitley, former IPL chairman Chirayu Amin and Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The committee had detailed the alleged irregularities that Modi committed from the time the IPL's governing council approved the draft of the Invitiation to Tender (ITT) in December 2009 - for adding two more teams to the league - to Modi's eventual suspension in April 2010.
In fact, it was the introduction of the Kochi franchise that spelt Modi's doom. The case of Kochi constitutes three of the eleven charges pressed against Modi, including rigging bids, arm-twisting franchises and bringing the BCCI into disrepute through his comments on Twitter.
As a last ditched attempt to avoid the life-ban, Modi requested the BCCI to adjourn the SGM and also said that he was willing to appear before it through video conferencing. The pleas were not allowed.
"The Hon'ble Delhi High Court on 24.9.013 vide operative portion of the order pronounced at 5.30 p.m. has allowed the BCCI's appeal and has set aside the order dated 21.9.2013 passed by the learned ADJ No. 2 & Wakf Tribunal, Patiala House Court, New Delhi," he wrote to the board secretary.
"A copy of the operative portion of order has been supplied at 7.30 pm by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court and my lawyers are preparing Special Leave Petition to be filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. We intend to mention the matter on 25.9.2013 for urgent listing. In such circumstances, I would request you to kindly adjourn the meeting," Modi said.
Modi said that he also wants to appear before the SGM.
"Please note that I do intend to appear before the SGM and place my version and the facility that was extended to the BCCI witnesses for the purposes of recording of their evidence that is by way of video conferencing may kindly be extended to me as well," he said.
But the BCCI was determined to take a firm action against him and the Supreme Court also made things easy for the board members.
Declining to interfere in the affairs of the board, the apex court bench headed by Justice H.L. Gokhale said the "only thing about you (Modi) is that you are big and big money is involved". The court said it could not be expected to interfere into the internal functioning of the society, which the BCCI is.
Modi has contended that Special General Meeting could only be called on the directions of the president and the apex cricketing body has no elected functional president at present.
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