With panel member Jyotiraditya Scindia unable to attend due to illness, the hearing of the BCCI's disciplinary committee, probing charges of financial irregularities against suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi, was today suspended until this evening.
The meeting was scheduled for 1000 hrs this morning but with Scindia unwell with very high fever, the meeting had to be postponed to this evening.
"We spoke to him and he is willing to join the hearing in the evening as scheduled earlier. BCCI's witnesses Mr S Sundar Raman, Mr Paul Manning, Mr John Loffhagen and Mr Peter Griffiths were present," the other two members of the three-strong committee, Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin said in a statement.
IPL CEO Raman came from South Africa where the Champions League Twenty20 is being played. The other three witnesses have came from England.
Modi had sought the postponement of the hearing until tomorrow but his request could not be conveyed to the entire committee for various reasons.
"We had received an intimation on behalf of Mr Modi that the hearing fixed on September 14 should be adjourned. One of
us, Mr Arun Jaitley contacted the other two members of the disciplinary committee but could not get through them late in the evening since Mr Chirayu Amin was in the flight from Baroda to Delhi and Mr Jyotiraditya M Scindia was not available on phone because of his being unwell."
This was conveyed by Jaitley to Modi's lawyer Mehmood Abdi. Abdi had earlier requested Jaitley that since the hearing on the writ petition filed by Modi against the BCCI in the Bombay high court is likely to be completed by the afternoon, the morning schedule of hearing should be adjourned while evening session could go on.
"However in the mail sent by them in the late hours this fact was not mentioned. When we put it to Shailesh Mendon, counsel for Mr Modi, who had appeared today and sought an adjournment and informed us that their request is that the matter should be adjourned to September 15 and not for the evening of September 14," the BCCI said in the minutes of the morning meeting released here.
"In the absence of a full quorum, we are unable to proceed with hearing in the morning. We will not make any directions including procedural at this stage in the absence of full quorum.
"We telephoned Mr Scindia after two of us assembled and were informed that he could join the enquiry in the evening. We will make orders on this request in the evening at 6.00 pm. The enquiry is shifted to Mr Scindia's residence. Mr Scindia had informed us that he will be able to join the enquiry panel by the evening."
