Observing that the petitioner failed to produce any material to substantiate his complaint of irregularities in the BCCI, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court dismissed the Public Interest Litigation seeking a direction to the Centre to take over its administration as well as that of Indian Premier League.
In a hard hitting observation, a Bench comprising Justice S Rajeswaran and Justice T Mathivanan said “the PIL is a classic case of abuse of process of the court and law. Being a lawyer, the Petitioner V Santhakumaresan should have ascertained the facts, and he has come to this court without any materials, except news paper reports to file the case.”
Accepting the arguments of the BCCI counsel that the petitioner was trying to sensationalise and seek publicity through the case, and it was a pure violation of the guidelines for filing PIL in the courts, the Judges dismissed the litigation.
Earlier V Santhakumaresan, an advocate from Madurai filed a PIL stating that the entire function and administration of BCCI are governed by the provisions of Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, whose objective is to function for public purpose but the board failed to do so. Further the petitioner added that the Indian cricket team ought to be represented by country and not by a private registered society.