N. Srinivasan Appeals to Supreme Court to Reinstate him as BCCI President; Aditya Verma to File Contempt Petition

N. Srinivasan has filed an interim application on Wednesday appealing to the Supreme Court to reinstate him as BCCI president. The top court had stripped Srinivasan off his powers as Board head in the wake of the 2013 Indian Premier League match-fixing and betting case that involved the embattled BCCI supremo's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, a Chennai Super Kings team official.

Meanwhile, the petitioner in the IPL corruption case, Aditya Verma of Cricket Association of Bihar, said his counsel will file a contempt petition against Srinivasan for flouting court orders. Verma alleges that Srinivasan had defied the top court by "secretly" meeting Chennai Super Kings and top officials in Ranchi on May 13. Srinivasan's application is likely to be heard on Thursday.

The Supreme Court, vide its orders on March 28 and May 16, restrained Srinivasan from discharging his duties as BCCI president. The court has also formed a new committee under retired judge Justice Mukul Mugdal to investigate further allegations of corruption against Srinivasan and 12 players, some of whom have played for India. The court wants a final order by August-end. The next hearing is scheduled in September.

In his appeal on Wednesday, Srinivasan has said that his "unceremonious exclusion" was "too drastic a step and is extremely harsh." Srinivasan wants to be reinstated as BCCI president till his term expires in September this year. Srinivasan is also scheduled to become the first chairman of the new-look International Cricket Council from July.

In his affidavit, Srinivasan says that he will only handle non-IPL matters. On March 28, the Supreme Court had appointed Sunil Gavaskar and Shivlal Yadav as interim BCCI presidents. While Gavaskar was asked to manage IPL affairs, Yadav was asked to handle the remainder of Board matters. The 2014 IPL will be over on June 1. Srinivasan said he had no objection to Gavaskar carrying on IPL duties.

In his appeal Srinivasan says he has been singled out for punishment by the court. He says in his application: "It is further significant to mention that none of the players against whom any wrong-doing is alleged have been restrained from participating in the IPL-2014 and it is only the applicant (Srinivasan) who is having to face the stigma of restriction from functioning as the president of BCCI despite the probe-panel itself submitting before this Hon'ble Court that the allegations against the applicant were unestablished."

The appeal also stated that the order to restrain Srinivasan from functioning as the BCCI president was passed "without taking into consideration that there is no material whatsoever on the record to substantiate the allegations of betting and/or spot-fixing against the applicant or even of non-cooperation with the probe panel" constituted by the court. It called the order "inessential", and pointed out that the court had itself refused to form an opinion against Srinivasan.