Supreme Court to hear appeal by S Sreesanth against lifetime ban in January

The Supreme Court will hear the appeal filed by cricketer S Sreesanth, challenging the life time ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in the third week of January..A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Hemant Gupta heard Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid, who appeared for Sreesanth before deciding to list the case in January..Khurshid submitted that Sreesanth is already 35 years old and is losing his playing years..He also argued that he was handed out a harsh verdict as none of the other players who were embroiled along with Sreesanth in the spot fixing scandal were given life time ban..“He cannot even play local club cricket because of this ban. He has offers from clubs in UK“, submitted Khurshid..The Bench remarked that the matter will have to be heard at length and proceeded to list it in the third week of January next year..The life ban on playing cricket had been imposed on Sreesanth by the BCCI in view of his alleged involvement in spot fixing during the 2013 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket. All 36 accused in the scandal were discharged from the case by the Patiala House Court in July 2015..All the same, the BCCI declined to reverse its disciplinary order against Sreesanth, which it asserts had been passed on the basis of evidence..Thereafter, in August last year, a single judge of the Kerala High Court lifted the life ban and set aside all proceedings brought by the BCCI. However, on appeal, a Division Bench of the High Court restored the BCCI ban, holding that there was no violation of natural justice to rule in Sreesanth’s favour.