H.L. Gokhale, J. - (1.) These three Special Leave Petitions seek to challenge three orders passed by three different benches of Bombay High Court, on the proceedings initiated by the Appellant against the first Respondent Board of Control for Cricket in India (hereinafter referred to either as Rs. first Respondent or the Rs. BCCI).
(2.) The first Respondent is a society registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975. The Petitioner, herein, is a member of the first respondent representing one of its constituent associations. As a part of its activities, the first Respondent had organized a cricket competition under the banner Rs. Indian Premier League shortly known as (IPL), and the Petitioner was appointed as the incharge Chairman thereof. Considering the popularity of the game of cricket, these games were to be televised. Telecasting of these games was expected to fetch a good income to BCCI and the firm entrusted with the telecasting of these games, and therefore, the rights for telecasting were auctioned by first Respondent through a bidding process for an appropriate price.
(3.) In April 2010, the first Respondent received a complaint from a bidder alleging breach of confidentiality against the Petitioner. The Petitioner was therefore, suspended from his position on 25.4.2010. (a) He was served with a show cause notice dated 25.4.2010 inter-alia alleging/accusing him of (i) accepting multi-million dollar kickback while assigning the telecasting rights for IPL matches; (ii) attempting to rig the bids for the two new IPL teams-that were auctioned the previous month; (iii) having proxy stakes in IPL teams; (iv) entering into transactions with rank strangers against the mandate of the Governing Council of the IPL; (v) helping family members in benefiting from the IPL contracts. (b) Thereafter another show cause notice was issued to him on 6.5.2010 which alleged inter-alia that he was seeking to create a parallel cricket body at international level (particularly in England) and thereby subvert the present International Cricket structure. The Petitioner sought certain information and documents from the first Respondent in this behalf, but the same were not furnished. ;