Advertisement IPL spot-fixing: SC adjourns hearing on Justice Mudgal Committee's report till March 25

New Delhi: A day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) urged it to refrain from naming cricketers mentioned in Justice Mudgal Committee’s report, the Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on the three-member panel’s findings till March 25. The Committee had submitted its report in a sealed envelope in the apex court on February 10, and the SC was scheduled to take up the hearing today. Earlier, in what may be concluded as a defiant cover-up of its marquee members- cricketers, to be precise- the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asked the Supreme Court to refrain from naming cricketers who have allegedly been named in Justice Mudgal Committee report for their complicity in IPL fixing and betting scandal that rocked the nation in the previous edition of cash-rich league. As many as six cricketers, including skipper Ms Dhoni and southpaw Suresh Raina, were reportedly named by the three-member probe panel that submitted its report in a sealed envelope to the apex court last month. The panel had also concluded that BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was more than a “cricket enthusiast.” The committee had stated that Gurunath had been in violation of several sections of the IPL Operational Rules, the IPL Anti-Corruption Code and Articles of the Code of Conduct for Players and team officials. The report's "conclusions and recommendations" section states that it can do no more than report a "violation of the rules" to the Court as it does not have a mandate to impose any punishment. "It is for the Hon'ble Supreme Court to decide what action, if any, is to be taken pursuant of the report of the Committee," it reads. The Mudgal committee was headed by retired High Court Judge Justice Mukul Mudgal, who was joined by additional solicitor general L Nageswara Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta, who is also an Assam Cricket Association member. The committee was set-up in October 2013 in response to a case originally filed by Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma in the Bombay High Court last June alleging conflict of interest in the BCCI's two-member inquiry panel that originally cleared Meiyappan, Kundra and their respective franchises. The High Court ruled the probe was illegal but left it up to the BCCI to decide what to do next. The board appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, after which the CAB filed a petition with the Supreme Court saying the Bombay High Court should have ordered a fresh investigation. The Mudgal Committee’s brief was to investigate the allegations of corruption against Gurunath, CSK’s owners India Cements, Kundra and Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Ltd, the owners of the RR. It was also asked to look at the bigger picture of betting and spot-fixing in IPL matches.