The Madras High Court has directed Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), India Cements and Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) to file comprehensive counter affidavits on a petition filed by Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings.

The IPL franchisee ý has sought a stay on a two-year ban from playing in the IPL T20 cricket tournament recommended by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee which went into allegations of match fixing and betting.

The CSK petition came up before a two-bench headed by the Chief Justice Kishan Kaul and Justice TS Sivagnanam. The court will hear the petition’s maintainability and merit on September 23. The BCCI that governs the IPL is named as the first respondent and India Cements, the original franchise owner, as the second. The Cricket Association of Bihar had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court in 2013 in the betting scandal. It has been allowed to implead in the case.

India Cements has demerged the team division into a subsidiary, Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd owned by India Cements shareholders on a proportionate basis.

The Lodha Committee recommended a two-year suspension of CSK and Rajasthan Royals as the team officials were found to be involved in betting. It also banned for life Gurunath Meiyappan, a former team official of CSK, from any involvement in cricket.

CSK in its affidavit filed last Thursday said that neither the management of CSK nor any player was found guilty of betting or match fixing. Meiyappan never had shares in India Cements, which owned CSK at that time, nor was he in the company’s management. CSK said the committee’s order went against the fundamental principles of natural justice and fair hearing.

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