Retained panel to resume hearing against Modi

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at its Special General Meeting (SGM) on Saturday retained the three-member disciplinary panel of Chirayu Amin, Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia that is currently probing charges of corruption against ex-Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman, Lalit Modi.

The trio had to be formally inducted into the Committee, as it had not received BCCI's General Body mandate at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 29. During every AGM, the BCCI is to appoint a Disciplinary Committee, but had not done so this year, as pointed out by Modi's counsel, Mehmood Abdi.

Agenda
"Today's agenda was very limited. The committee ratified the hearings of the disciplinary committee and the panel members will continue," BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla told reporters after the meeting. A BCCI official told this paper that the disciplinary committee had received the Board's approval at the AGM but it was not recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Hence, Board officials viewed it as a "minor thing".

The panel will resume its hearing on December 13 and 14 in New Delhi.

"What an irony that an irregularly constituted committee will probe into the alleged financial regularities against Modi," Abdi told Sunday MiD DAY.

Modi's camp has consistently opposed the nomination of Amin and Jaitley, both members of the IPL Governing Council too when it was headed by Modi, citing bias.