India Cements, led by sidelined BCCI president N Srinivasan, on Friday said it had completed the documentation for transferring its Indian Premier League team, Chennai Super Kings, into a wholly-owned subsidiary to be called Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd.
The move is being looked at as Srinivasan's first step to disassociate himself completely from the IPL franchise and in future regain the rights to contest the BCCI elections.
The company's board of directors will meet on Wednesday to consider re-organisation proposals related to the subsidiary. The board of directors' approval to hive off CSK into a separate entity could pave the way for its eventual sale to a new owner and thus make Srinivasan free of stakes in the franchise.
Friday's move comes ahead of the BCCI working committee meeting to be held in Chennai on Sunday where the date of the AGM will be decided.
The Supreme Court in its January 22 verdict on the IPL betting and spot-fixing case had given Srinivasan a choice of picking either the BCCI or CSK to avoid a conflict of interest while striking down amendments in the BCCI constitution that permitted cricket administrators to own IPL teams.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, the BCCI has to hold its AGM by the first week of March and going by BCCI sources, Srinivasan will meet a select set of loyalists over dinner on Saturday in Chennai and divulge his plan of action before going into the working committee where not everyone is willing to sing to his tune following the court ruling.
{{/usCountry}}According to the Supreme Court ruling, the BCCI has to hold its AGM by the first week of March and going by BCCI sources, Srinivasan will meet a select set of loyalists over dinner on Saturday in Chennai and divulge his plan of action before going into the working committee where not everyone is willing to sing to his tune following the court ruling.
{{/usCountry}}CSK are also being probed by a court-appointed three-member committee headed by ex CJI RM Lodha. The committee has been given six months to decide on the quantum of punishment for CSK and Rajasthan Royals and under the circumstances, it is unlikely that a buyer would be interested in CSK before knowing the franchise's fate.
So as of now it is still not clear how Srinivasan will manage to completely dissociate himself from the franchise before the six weeks are over and contest the BCCI polls.
It has been learnt that majority of the working committee members will assemble in Chennai on Saturday. "The working committee also consists of units which are completely against Srinivasan. He would only like to speak to his loyalists before they go on floor the next day. But so far, he hasn't said anything on his plans after the tough Supreme Court verdict," a BCCI source, who will be part of the working committee meeting, told HT.