The Bombay High Court has said that the way in which the BCCI constituted a panel under its own rules is "illegal" and "unconstitutional". A petition filed by the Bihar Cricket Association against the panel had cited conflict of interest, as it had been set up to probe charges against Gurunath Meiyappan, when his father-in-law N Srinivasan was in charge as BCCI chief.



The BCCI probe panel had earlier cleared Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan of spot-fixing, which is betting on the result of a certain ball or over, or the performance of an individual player, rather than the result of a match.

The decision of the probe panel had paved the way for the return of Mr Srinivasan as the president of the world's richest cricket body. Mr Srinivasan, who is the managing director of the India Cements company that owns the Chennai Super Kings, was forced to step aside pending the investigation for fears of a conflict between his responsibilities and the allegations against his son-in-law.

Mr Srinivasan's mentor and former International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya took over as acting BCCI president in the interim.

The BCCI's investigation and its report are independent of on-going inquiries by the Mumbai and Delhi Police.

The Mumbai Police had accused the BCCI's probe panel of not including their crucial inputs on the spot-fixing investigations.

The spot-fixing controversy arose after the arrest in May of three Rajasthan Royals players including S Sreesanth. The Delhi Police claimed they had proof that the players had conceded more than a specified number of runs per over in return for money from bookmakers.

The three players were charged with cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust. The Delhi Police has moved court to seek cancellation of Sreesanth's bail. He was released from prison in June after 27 days in jail.

Mr Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan spent nearly two weeks in jail after he was accused of spot-fixing, while Royals co-owner Raj Kundra, who is married to Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, admitted only to betting and was never arrested.