BCCI grants five-day deadline extension to Modi

The BCCI has agreed to grant the five-day extension of the deadline requested by Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL chairman, to file his replies to the board's chargesheet. Modi was previously expected to appear at the BCCI headquarters on Monday to respond in person to the charges. The 15-day deadline that was initially agreed upon expires on Tuesday.

Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer, confirmed Modi's request: "Lalit Modi has requested the board president Shashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan to extend time. He was supposed to reply to the show-cause notice today. The board has taken a decision to extend time up to the May 15."

According to Shetty, Modi sought the extension because he wanted some more documents from the board that would help in preparing his defence. Modi was suspended by BCCI on April 26, soon after the conclusion of the IPL, which sent him a show-cause notice asking him to reply to a slew of charges relating to the conduct of the high-profile Twenty20 league. Modi was alleged to have indulged in financial deals without the knowledge of the IPL Governing Council, bid-rigging and of behavioural pattern which was not acceptable.

On Saturday, Mehmood Abdi, one of Modi's lawyers, submitted the first set of the documents to the board. Abdi was back in the board office today with the remaining papers including minutes of IPL Governing Council meetings, bid documents, franchisee agreements and all contracts starting from 2008 onwards. "This is the final phase of handing over of papers to the board from our side. We had earlier submitted a bigger bulk of papers on May 8," Abdi said.

The first set of documents, both original as well as notarised copies, included all franchisee agreements, global media rights agreements, global media rights packages, all bid documents, media rights licensee agreements, eligibility letters of bidders with details and sponsorship agreements entered into by IPL.

Modi has retained a copy of all the documents, which according to Abdi ran into thousand pages. "These have been endorsed by Shetty," Abdi pointed out.

BCCI sources said Modi's reply, once it comes in, will be taken up by the board's three-man disciplinary committee, comprising Manohar and two vice-presidents - Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin, who was appointed the interim IPL chairman after Modi's suspension. "The disciplinary committee is likely to meet in mid-June," a BCCI official said.

IPL appoints an advisor from corporate world

The BCCI has appointed Bharat Patel, a senior member of India's corporate world, as advisor to Chirayu Amin, the IPL's interim chairman. Patel is a former chairman of the MNC Procter & Gamble and, according to a BCCI statement, was associated in the setting up of the IPL in 2008 in an advisory capacity to Lalit Modi, the then chairman.

An IPL governing council member indicated that it was Amin who suggested Patel's name. The source also noted that any appointment would need the approval of the governing council. which is scheduled to meet in June.

Patel did not confirm or deny the news when Cricinfo contacted him, saying he would leave it to the BCCI to make any announcement. If Patel's appointment gets confirmed he is likely to take up a more permanent role with the IPL once the current crisis blows over. The current COO is Sundar Raman, who has held the post since the league's inception.

Following Modi's spectacular and swift downfall, culminating in his suspension two weeks ago, the work of the IPL has been divided. While Amin is on the disciplinary committee that is handling the Modi case, the cricket-related work - specifically planning the next season - has been entrusted to the three cricketers on the governing council, Sunil Gavaskar, MAK Pataudi and Ravi Shastri.

Like Amin, Patel - who was P&G chairman till March 2009 - enjoys a certain standing in the Indian corporate world. He is currently is the chairman of the Indian Society of Advertisers and serves on the brand protection committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a top lobby group that Amin headed a few years ago.