NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the BCCI’s response on a plea by former cricketer S. Sreesanth challenging a life time ban on him by the apex cricketing body in the wake of an alleged spot fixing scandal.
Issuing the notice, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud gave the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) four weeks to respond.
It also gave Sreesanth another four weeks to file his rejoinder to the response by the BCCI.
Senior counsel Parag Tripathi accepted the notice on behalf of the BCCI.
Senior counsel Salman Khurshid, appearing for Sreesanth, argued that banning him was bad and banning for life was not justified after he has been discharged by a trial court of criminal charges over lack of evidence.
A division bench of the high court had restored the ban on a petition filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) against a single-judge bench’s order, lifting the life ban imposed on the 34-year-old pacer.
The bench had said there was no violation of natural justice against the cricketer and quashed the single bench order in Sreesanth’s favour. In its appeal, the BCCI had said the decision to ban the cricketer was taken based on the evidence against him.
The single-judge bench had on August 7 last year lifted the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI and also set aside all proceedings against Sreesanth initiated by the board.
All the 36 accused in the spot-fixing case, including Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, were let off by a Patiala House court in July, 2015. The BCCI, however, had refused to alter its disciplinary decision even after the verdict.
