Despite SC order, Jadeja faces trouble

Justice Khan also ordered that the BCCI8217;s objections, if any, would be heard only on July 21, thereby giving Jadeja enough time to establish himself in the domestic circuit.

Redressing the situation, the Supreme Court today ruled that though the high court had fixed the next hearing in the matter for July 21, it would not preclude the board from approaching the high court before that to make appropriate submissions.

As a result, the BCCI is set to move the high court shortly seeking a hearing of its objections to the relief given to Jadeja so that the ban may again be enforced in its entirety as originally scheduled for two more years.

The board has a strong case for getting the ex parte order of May 28 set aside because the law does not permit any relief to be given to Jadeja till as long as the BCCI8217;s main petition challenging an arbitration award given in his favour four months ago is pending.

This was the very reason a single judge of the high court, Justice Manmohan Sarin, first rejected Jadeja8217;s application on May 26. He ruled out any relief to Jadeja at this stage as that 8216;8216;would amount to enforcement of the award8217;8217; when the BCCI8217;s objections to it were pending hearing.

Yet, two days later, the division bench headed by Justice B A Khan brushed aside this legality by stating that even though the BCCI8217;s petition is due to be heard on July 8, 8216;8216;it is not certain8217;8217; that it would 8216;8216;assume finality on that date.8217;8217;

Thus, Khan has partially lifted the ban on Jadeja in the teeth of the law because the BCCI8217;s objections to the award in his favour are unlikely to be decided on July 8. Khan said that 8216;8216;further time loss was inherent in the situation which was, in turn, likely to cause irreparable loss and damage to Jadeja and which could even cut short his cricketing career both at the national and international level.8217;8217;

The tone of the order suggests that the division bench set much store by the arbitration award given by former high court judge, J K Mehra. The faith displayed by Khan seems misplaced given that the BCCI, as reported for the first time by The Sunday Express, had walked out of the arbitration proceedings accusing Mehra of 8216;8216;bias.8217;8217;

While permitting Jadeja to play domestic cricket, Khan sought to buttress his order by giving purely extra-legal reasons. One is to help Jadeja 8216;8216;keep himself in a fit condition.8217;8217; And the other is to let him 8216;8216;earn his bare minimum livelihood.8217;8217;