Following the two-year suspension of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) from the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, Justice Lodha has said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has the power to terminate the two franchises.
"It is for the BCCI to consider terminating the teams and the Supreme Court judgement is clear on that. The BCCI can do that. We have been appointed as a disciplinary committee and [Clause] 11.3 deals with contractual obligation and that has to be dealt by BCCI, so we can't go into it," Lodha was quotes as saying by NDTV.
The IPL Governing Council, headed by Rajeev Shukla, has called an emergency meeting. The council will meet on 19 July to decide on the future of CSK and RR. It will be up to BCCI whether to terminate these two popular franchises or just go with the Lodha Committee verdict.
"We can't comment about it because as we have read the report they have suspended it for two years. When the implementation part will come, we will go by the recommendations of the Lodha Commission report, and that will be decided by the Governing Council and the Working Committee," Shukla told NDTV.
Many of the BCCI officials who spoke to ESPN Cricinfo were unaware that they have the power to terminate the two teams. But they stressed on the fact that they will strictly abide by the Lodha Committee report.
"The Lodha Committee has clearly said what has to be done. We will abide by it. But, I don't think we will terminate CSK and RR. We will strictly follow what the Lodha report has said," a BCCI official told Espn Cricinfo.