The Supreme Court appointed Justice RM Lodha Committee suspended IPL cricket franchise India Cements Limited (ICL) and Jaipur IPL Pvt Ltd (JIPL) for a period of two years. The committee also suspended Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra from the cricketing world for five years as of now.

Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra

The judgement suspended the son-in-law of former BCCI president N Srinivsan, Gurunath for life. Both teams have been found guilty by the Supreme Court of betting and hence suspended for two years which can be extended upto a maximum period of 5 years.

This controversy has shaken the foundations of IPL in India and also the belief that people had on this event. The court read that Gurunath Meiyppan lost close to 60 lakhs Indian Rupees in betting which indicate his addictive nature of betting.

The judgement also rejected a plea by the UK based citizen, Raj Kundra for not knowing that betting is illegal in India and cannot be accepted. Justice Lodha said that if Mr Kundra was truly in love with the game, he would not have engaged in betting.

The Lodha Committee was formed by the apex court of the country to tackle the IPL betting case on January 2nd this year. That pint itself, the Supreme Court had dismissed claims of Meiyappan of being just an enthusiast and not part of any team.

The Supreme Court has said that, “It is noteworthy that those sanctions are not limited to Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra alone but may extend to suspension of the team or franchise from the league also”. The Bench has said that the quantum of punishment for both the individuals and the team would not be fair if left to BCCI or the apex court itself.

Hence, a three member committee led by former Chief Justice of India, RS Lodha and former Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and RV Raveendran has been set up to decide up on the punishment imparted. It has been made clear that any decision taken by this committee will be final and binding on the people in question and the BCCI.

The Committee is to further be given powers to recommend changes to streamline BCCI elections and recommend changes as it sees fit in the BCCI functioning. Time frame of six months has been given for the same.

Tags: BCCI, CSK, Gurunath Meiyappan, IPL, IPL Scam, Justice RM Lodha Committee, Raj Kundra, RR, Supreme Court