BCCI postpones AGM, quashes allegations against Srinivasan

The board's Woking Committee Meeting went underway in Mumbai on Tuesday. There, the decision to postpone the AGM and the elections were taken. The board hinted, it will wait for the Supreme Court's verdict.

"The Working Committee postponed the 85th Annual General Meeting of the BCCI, originally scheduled to be held on 20th November 2014," a BCCI statement said.

The meeting now will be held on Dec 17 in Chennai," it added.

This is a first in the history of the Board. According to the constitution, AGMs should be held every year and before September 30.

Election of new president will now depend on Supreme Court's verdict on the future of president-in-exile N. Srinivasan on November 24.

In the meeting that concluded on Tuesday, BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel told reporters that "The Members noted the conclusions in the final report of the Mudgal committee and felt that there is no taint on the conduct of  N. Srinivasan and the allegations levelled against him by unscrupulous elements were baseless and were aimed at destabilizing the working of the BCCI."

A BCCI press statement stated: "Sundar Raman gave his explanation relating to his role with reference to the conclusions relating to him in the report of the Mudgal committee. The Members heard his explanation and decided that the Board should support Mr. Sundar Raman to represent himself before the Supreme Court."

The statement hinted clearly that there will be no action against Sundar Raman or Srinivasan till proved guilty.

During the next hearing, four "non-playing" members, who have been served notices for their links with the scam, have to reply to a Special Supreme Court Bench. Two of the four are N. Srinivasan and IPL COO Sundar Raman. The other two being Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra and Snini's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan.

Earlier, Srinivasan got a fresh lease of life on Monday Mudgal panel report stated that he was not directly involved in any match-fixing or betting scandal or tried to put spanner in a probe into IPL. The report though said, he knew about the scam but didn't try to stop it.

Portions of the 35-page report prepared by Justice Mukul Mudgal panel which was made public on Monday by the Supreme Court has indicted Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals' co-owner Raj Kundra in 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting case.

Srinivasan, who is also International Cricket Committee (ICC) Chairman, has been given a clean chit in both spot-fixing and betting involvement.

Srinivasan is seeking another term as BCCI president.  The findings of the report will certainly help him return to BCCI mainframe.

Portions of the 35-page report made by Mudgal-led inquiry panel said, though Srinivasan as well as IPL governing council, including CEO Sundar Raman, knew about the betting and match-fixing, but they failed to take action against it.

The report notes that Srinivasan may have known that some players were involved in betting but he didn't take any action on it.

Chennai Super Kings team owner Meiyappan has already been indicted by the Mudgal panel for betting and sharing team information.

The report, however, said Meiyappan was not involved in match-fixing.

Srini said that he himself is "clean" and should not be "punished" for Meiyappan's alleged misdeeds.

Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra have also been served notices for wrong-doings in the IPL.

Both have charges of betting against them.