Supreme Court hearing Friday crucial for Srinivasan

New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) The question whether beleaguered Indian cricket board president Narayanaswami Srinivasan will get a third year in office will be decided Friday by the Supreme Court when it hears a plea seeking to restrain him from chairing Sunday's Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the board in Chennai.

"All right, we will hear it Friday," said a bench headed by justice A.K. Patnaik when counsel for Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) sought an urgent hearing of the plea before the Chennai AGM.

CAB, which is not recognised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had filed a petition in the apex court Monday to restrain Srinivasan from chairing the AGM.

CAB secretary Aditya Verma, in his application, also sought to restrain the BCCI from inducting Srinivasan in any of its committees as member or allow him to participate in any of the proceedings in any capacity.

If the court admits the plea and restrains Srinivasan from chairing the meeting, it will be a big setback for the self-exiled chief of the Indian cricket board.

In the event of the court restraining him, board circles feel that the AGM itself could be put off till the stay is vacated or the case itself is disposed.

There is already a groundswell of opposition in the board against Srinivasan contesting the election in view of the Mumbai police pressing charges of betting and criminal conspiracy against his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, principal of the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings (CSK), in Mumbai High Court Saturday.

Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns CSK, has distanced himself from Meiyappan, who is among the 22 people chargesheeted by the investigators.

There appears to be no end to Srinivasan's troubles. He and India Cements figure among those chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a corruption case involving Y.S.R. Congress Party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.

In the charge-sheet relating to India Cements, CBI named Srinivasan, its managing director, as accused number three.