The verdict on the Indian Premier League spot-fixing (IPL) scandal continues to amuse cricket fans in and around India. The Lodha Committee had suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) on 14 July. Post that, CSK Cricket Limited had filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court against the verdict but nothing fruitful came out of it for the Chennai-based franchise.
In a turn of events, BJP politician Subramanian Swamy has filed a petition at the same court challenging the verdict of Lodha Committee and also alleged that former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has been influencing the course of litigation in Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.
"Lalit Modi has been influencing the course of events and this only raised serious concerns regarding the legitimacy of the proceedings before the honourable courts which ultimately culminated in the suspension of CSK and Rajasthan Royals," Swamy alleged in his petition.
Swamy is backing the two suspended franchises and wants them to feature in the next two seasons of IPL. The BJP leader apparently did this for the cause of cricket and in public interest. He felt that the public will be deprived off some exciting cricket actions of 'two star teams' of the IPL for the next two years and that cannot happen.
The first bench of the Madras High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam ordered at the hearing on Monday that the petition will be heard alongside CSK Cricket Limited's petition, which is slated to happen on Wednesday, 23 September.
Swamy is also seeking a stay order on the Lodha Committee verdict. He felt that CSK, RR and their owners have suffered a lot of injustice, referring the decision to be "unfair and one-sided adjudication process". "They targeted CSK through highlighting N Srinivasan's son-in-law's alleged indiscretion through this new brand of sensationalistic press to discredit CSK and knock them out from competing against inferior rivals and thus to settle private scores," he alleged.
