Ravi Shastri in BCCI's proposed three-member panel

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: An emergent working committee meeting of the Board of Control in India (BCCI) was held at its Mumbai headquarters on Sunday under the directive of a Supreme Court order to ensure fair probe into the IPL scam.

Following the meeting, the BCCI decided to propose to the apex court a three-member panel comprising RK Raghavan, former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Justice (retd.) JN Patel, former chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, and Ravi Shastri, former India skipper and renown commentator.

Former former BCCI president Shashank Manohar represented Vidarbha Cricket Association in the meeting. And it`s learnt that his proposal to include former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee and additional solicitor general L Nageshwar Rao in the panel was rejected. Rao was part of the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee, which carried out an independent investigation into corruption in the IPL scam.

In the meeting, the board also decided to hold a special general body meeting in the second week of May, for which no details were given.

N Srinivasan`s home unit – Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, was represented by its legal advisor, Bharat Raman.

Earlier, the apex court, while turning down N Srinivasan`s fresh plea to return to the helm of the Board`s affairs as its elected chief, has ruled that he cannot be given back the BCCI`s reins till he comes out clean in a probe conducted against him and 12 others, including India-capped cricketers, whose names have been mentioned by Justice Mudgal Committee report in the IPL corruption scandal. The directive also asked the board to reply on April 22 with definite corrective measures on how to assure a fair probe in the IPL scam.

A bench of justices A K Patnaik and F M Ibrahim Kalifulla, however, had expressed reservations over a SIT or CBI probe, saying that institutional autonomy of the Board has to be maintained and a committee constituted by the BCCI to look into the issue would be preferred.

"Having come to know the nature of allegations, we cannot close our eyes," the bench said, adding that it is concerned about the game of cricket in the country and not about individuals.

Referring to a sealed envelope report of Justice Mudgal committee, the bench said, "It (report) said all these allegations were brought to his (Srinivasan) notice but he did not take any action. That means he was aware about the allegations and did not take it seriously."

Interestingly, the Supreme Court refused to bar Srinivasan from attending International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings. The BCCI’s president-in-exile has been nominated as the next ICC chairman and set to assume the role in July.

With Agency inputs