SC suggests Mudgal Committee decide extent of punishment

New Delhi, Nov 27 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday suggested that the Mudgal Committee, that probed the allegation of betting and match fixing in IPL 2013 decide on the nature of punishment for Gurunath Meiyappan and others named on its report in accordance with the BCCI's rules and regulations, including the anti-corruption code.

Senior counsel C.A. Sundaram, appearing for the BCCI, agreed with the suggestion. He earlier had requested the court to decide on an external commission to determine the extent of punishment so that there is transparency about the verdict.

“Let the Mudgal Committee be asked to take action and let there be a logical conclusion of the issue. Let them discharge the function of imposing penalty”, said an apex court bench of Justice T.S.Thakur and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla.

“Now that the report has come we can ask the BCCI to take a decision in 10 days,” the bench said

As Sundaram told the court that “we (BCCI) will give them a hearing”, the court said that stage for a hearing is over now that the court has the Mudgal Committee report.

“Why don’t you take action? Why should we take action? We will see the correctness of the decision (taken by the BCCI). We will give you an opportunity to take a call."

If we decided the action on the Mudgal Committee report this would amount to “clutching the powers of the BCCI".

The court said it had reservations on allowing the present BCCI office bearers to determine punitive action against Meiyappan and others on the basis of the Mudgal Committee report.

The court said that the present BCCI committee had outlived its utility as its term had already come to an end.

The court also said that “all those who are involved in the matter stand aside”, dealing a blow to Srinivasan's hopes of standing in the election.

“There must be fresh election and fresh blood in the cricketing body that can look into the (Mudgal) report and act”, the court said.

It was at this stage that Sundaram told the court: “Let the court decide on an external commission and decide the matter so that there would be no whispering on the verdict.”

Then the court said that then Sundaramn should ask the Mudgal Committee to also determine the nature of punishment based on its report.

However, the matter rested there as hearing into the matter continued