Muthiah plea fails

N. SRINIVASAN, secretary of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, will take charge as its new president in September, but his continuation in the post will depend on the outcome of an appeal filed in the Supreme Court by former BCCI president A.C. Muthiah against a Madras High Court interim order on the conflict of interest issue he raised against Srinivasan. Muthiah sought to restrain Srinivasan from taking over as president until the disposal of the appeal. Srinivasan's company India Cements owns the Chennai Super Kings team in the Indian Premier League.

The Supreme Court Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R.M. Lodha said there would be nothing left to decide in the main appeal if an interim injunction was granted. The matter came up before this Bench after the Bench that heard the appeal first, on April 28, comprising Justices J.M. Panchal and Gyan Sudha Misra, was divided on the grant of interim injunction. The matter was referred to the CJI, who posted it to the Bench of Justices Alam and Lodha.

Justice Lodha said: This is one of those cases where if interim relief is granted, it would amount to granting the final relief itself.

The Bench disposed of the application after recording the undertaking from Srinavasan's counsel that he would abide by the final orders.

Srinivasan was designated president-elect of the BCCI at its annual general body meeting on September 29, 2010, to take over from Shashank Manohar in September this year.