Modi wanted to disclose details

At the time when the Indian Premier League (IPL) row over the Kochi franchisee was hotting up, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi wanted to disclose ownership details of the league's teams but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) felt the issue was “complex and needed detailed deliberations.”

According to details put out by Headlines Today news channel on Wednesday, e-mails show how BCCI president Shashank Manohar did not allow Mr. Modi to reveal the details of team ownerships.

Mr. Modi, in his e-mail of April 14, wanted to reveal the ownership details along with names of directors of all IPL teams. He had sent the e-mail to 71 recipients and among the recipients were IPL governing council members and IPL team-owners. In his e-mail, he had said that “propriety and fair play demand we should as public body disclose ownership details along with names of directors of all franchisees once again.

Earlier, at the time of bidding, we only disclosed the names and shareholding. If everyone is okay with this we will issue the same right away, that way all doubts and aspersions being cast on IPL franchisees and members of general council will [be] rebutted.”

Among those who got the e-mail were Mr. Manohar, Vijay Mallya, N. Srinivasan, Chirayu Amin, Sunil Gavaskar, Rajiv Shukla, Manoj Badale, Mohit Burman, Sundar Raman, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and I.S. Bindra. Mr. Modi had sent a copy to ICC president-elect Sharad Pawar.

However, in his reply to the email, Mr. Manohar wrote: “Ownership issue is complex and needs detailed deliberations and legal implications need to be gone into and hence can be considered at the general council meeting where all documents and papers relating to the bids are available.”

Manohar's poser

PTI reports:

Mr. Manohar made light of Mr. Modi's move to disclosing the ownership pattern of the franchisees, wondering what he had been doing for the past three years. The ownership issues were complex matters, and nothing could be decided in haste.