IPL 2019: KXIP asked to give written explanation on Ness Wadia issue

Industrialist Ness Wadia, also the co-owner of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), a franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) was arrested at an airport in Japan’s Hokkaido. The same was for the possession of 25gm of a banned substance, cannabis, and subsequently, he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment, the verdict that had been suspended for five years.

It has now been learned that the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Friday, has asked for an explanation from KXIP on the arrest of Wadia. However, as of now, the CoA, headed by Vinod Rai, won’t be handing over the matter to the IPL’s Ethics Committee that comprises of treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and acting president CK Khanna and secretary Amitabh Choudhry.

“The CoA has asked KXIP management to file a written explanation on what all has transpired. Agreed, the incident has got nothing to do with the league directly but Wadia’s arrest does create bad optics. Once KXIP file their explanation, the CoA will take a call on what needs to be done next,” a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying in The Times of India (TOI) after Friday’s meeting.

The CoA is expected to appeal to the apex court

According to the IPL’s code of ethics, a franchise may be slapped with sanction if anyone related with the team, a player or owner, is found tarnishing the sanctity and bringing disrepute to the sport in some way or the other.

“Out of the 36 BCCI units, there are 26 which are fully Lodha compliant and we expect a few more to become fully compliant in the coming days. The report will be submitted to the Supreme Court. The CoA is expected to appeal to the apex court for an election date. As for the units that will be non-compliant, they will be disqualified from voting at the AGM,” the official mentioned.

On being asked about the reasons behind not handing over the issue to the office bearers, the official remarked that they already have an Ethics Officer in Justice DK Jain and in the hour of need, the matter will be handed over to him along with some help from the office bearers if required.

[interaction id=”5cc2f633bb6fb0930d179460″]

Join CricTracker on Telegram. Match Predictions, Fantasy Guides and other handpicked stories every day. Subscribe to our Telegram channel.