BCCI top brass moves SC

New Delhi: BCCI top brass and Union minister Sharad Pawar rushed to the Supreme Court on Friday seeking a ‘third umpire’ view on the legality of the Calcutta High Court’s direction to initiate criminal proceedings against them, allegedly for filing a false affidavit in the case relating to expulsion of Jagmohan Dalmiya from the cricket board. Among those against whom the HC ordered criminal proceedings were BCCI president Shashank Manohar, Pawar, administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty, Niranjan Shah, N Srinivasan and Chirayu Amin. Their fault, as perceived by the HC judge Nadira Patherya, was that they filed an affidavit in May 2007 in Dalmiya case that was, in content, almost diametrically opposite to their affidavit filed two months earlier. “The HC completely misread the evidence and without giving the persons a chance to explain, initiated criminal proceedings,” the petitioners said before the SC, seeking its stay. They added that the HC, by proceeding ex-parte, had made a mockery of the principles of natural justice that demanded that no one should be condemned without being heard. It said the March 2007 affidavit filed by Pawar & Co was based on facts about non-requirement of registration of accounts before the Registrar of Societies. But the later affidavit was filed only by Ratnakar Shetty telling the HC that the Registrar of Societies had actually taken note of the accounts as well as the modified rules under which Dalmiya was expelled. Dalmiya had pointed out this discrepancy and accused the petitioners of committing perjury — lying on oath before the court. India tour of Pak still in doubt: India is sending its security teams to Pakistan for an on-thespot assessment before deciding whether to go ahead with the cricket series in Pakistan in January. The decision between BCCI and PCB has to be finalised in the next two weeks, but it’s unlikely that the series will be allowed to be played in Pakistan. “The risk is not worth it,” said government sources. The internal security situation in Pakistan is very grim and security agencies within India are wary of taking the risk. India will have a very low terror tolerance threshold for cricket and is not in the mood to expose India’s high-profile cricketers to jihadi misadventures.

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