The Supreme Court of India is set to examine whether match-fixing is a criminal offence [State of Karnataka & Anr v. Abrar Kazi & Ors]. .A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh on Tuesday appointed Advocate Shivam Singh as amicus curiae to assist it in deciding the issue. The case will be heard on July 22..The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the State of Karnataka challenging the High Court decision which quashed cheating and criminal conspiracy proceedings against people accused of fixing cricket matches. A few years ago, the Karnataka Police filed a chargesheet against people including CM Gautam, a former Ranji captain of Karnataka who played for Indian Premier League (IPL) teams like Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians, and Abrar Kazi, who played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru and was in the Ranji squad of Karnataka and Mizoram. They were accused of fixing matches in the 2018 season of the Karnataka Premier League. .However, the Karnataka High Court quashed the proceedings after holding that match-fixing only amounts to breach of the code of conduct prescribed by the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) and it is for the BCCI to take action against the players. “It is true that if a player indulges in match fixing, a general feeling will arise that he has cheated the lovers of the game. But, this general feeling does not give rise to an offence. The match fixing may indicate dishonesty, indiscipline and mental corruption of a player and for this purpose the BCCI is the authority to initiate disciplinary action,” the High Court had said. .Advocate DL Chidananda appeared for the Karnataka government.The Central government was represented through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj as well as Advocates Sharath Nambiar, Praneet Pranav, Satvika Thakur, Anuj Srinivas Udupa and Arvind Kumar Sharma. Advocates Ananga Bhattacharyya, Devahuti Tamuli, Krishanu Barua, Sandhya Gupta, Varchaswa Singh, Drishti Gupta, Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Bhargava V Desai and Shivam Sharma appeared for other respondents. .[Read Order]
