The parallel Indian Cricket League, bankrolled by the Essel Group, has written to the International Cricket Council for recognition from the governing body and the matter is under consideration, a top ICC official said on Wednesday.
"There are two parts to that. Until recently the ICL had never sought recognition from the ICC, so it never asked the question. About ten days ago lawyers acting on behalf of ICL contacted ICC and sought recognition from the ICC," said Malcolm Speed, the outgoing CEO of ICC, during an interaction with reporters in Mumbai.
"We are awaiting advice from our lawyers on that issue and I expect it within the next week or so (after which) we'll respond to the ICL lawyers," Speed added.
"The question is never been asked whether ICC will recognize ICL one way or the other. It's a fairly complicated legal issue and we are taking legal advice."
Speed also revealed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India had never sent anything in writing to the ICC that the ICL was an unsanctioned event or the BCCI did not recognize it.
"Similarly the ICC has never been asked if it will recognize the IPL.
"IPL doesn't need ICC recognition because it's a competition run by BCCI just as county cricket or Pura Cup doesn't need ICC recognition," he reiterated.
Saying that the issue was a very complicated one, Speed said that it was up to individual countries to determine whether they wanted to take back players who had joined ICL or not into the mainstream of cricket.
"That's the matter for those countries to work out whether they want to have those players back. It might become clearer when we get the final legal advice and there's dialogue with ICL," he added.
