New Delhi: Former Team India pacer S Sreesanth's hopes to make a return to cricket has been dealt a huge blow as a division bench of the Kerala high court on Tuesday decided that the ban on the cricketer will not be lifted.

The HC upheld the appeal made by the BCCI against the earlier single bench verdict that lifted the life ban on the bowler in August this year.

On Tuesday, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh and Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan held that the scrutiny of disciplinary proceedings could only be on limited grounds under writ jurisdiction.

The writ court cannot examine the merits of the decision, and can only examine if the decision-making process had been fair and proper.

All the 36 accused, including Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were let off in the spot-fixing case by a Patiala House court in July 2015.

The BCCI, however, had refused to alter its disciplinary decision even after the verdict.