Spot fixing: Supreme Court refuses to ban IPL; gives BCCI an earful over its failure

NEW DELHI: The supreme court today refused to ban all future IPL matches over the recent allegations of match fixing but gave the BCCI an earful over its failure to control the menace.

A vacation bench, comprising justices DR B S Chauhan and Dipak Misra, said that banning IPL would be akin to banning an entire profession for the mistakes of some.

"Can we ban the legal fraternity because a few lawyers made some mistakes? How can we ban a game?"

However, the bench gave the BCCI an earful over the recent allegations of match-fixing. "The whole problem is your lackadaisical approach," Misra told BCCI counsels Ranjit Kumar and Radha Rangaswamy.

The bench told the BCCI to ensure that the "guilty" do not escape "through subterfuge".

The BCCI through lawyer Ranjit Kumar assured the bench that henceforward a member of the anti-corruption unit would accompany the teams all the time.

He also assured the court that it would take action against players found guilty by its one-man inquiry, but the bench was not satisfied and directed the board to take action on the basis of the report.

"The game has been played for over 125 years in several countries," justice Misra said. "The BCCI must see that its reputation as a gentleman's game is preserved."