The Supreme Court on Monday sought the BCCI’s response on a plea by former cricketer S Sreesanth challenging a lifetime ban on him by the apex cricketing body in the wake of an alleged spot-fixing scandal.
The case pertains to the IPL spot-fixing scandal that rocked world cricket in 2013 and the seamer has been fighting for a return to the cricket field ever since.
Issuing the notice, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud gave BCCI four weeks to respond. It also gave Sreesanth another four weeks to file his rejoinder to the response by the BCCI.
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.
Senior counsel Salman Khurshid appearing for Sreesanth said 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.
Sreesanth in 2017 said that he will approach Supreme Court as the last ditch effort to lift the ban.
