THE three-man judicial panel that decided Josh Meekings' fate on Thursday didn't even rule on the handball incident.

The Inverness Caley Thistle player was issued with a notice of complaint by SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan this week.

He faced being ruled out of the Scottish Cup final with a one-match ban following his handball in the semi-final against Celtic on Sunday.

But the Inverness lawyer successfully argued McGlennan had no right to bring the case because match officials had seen the incident.

The SFA yesterday published the reasons for the punishment being thrown out by the panel.

A statement read: "Further to the judicial panel hearing yesterday involving Josh Meekings, the panel considered initial submissions from Mr Meekings' solicitor.

"In particular, it was argued by him that under protocol 13.4.1.1 the judicial panel was not entitled to determine the matter.

"The panel considered that as the incident (but not the actual alleged sending-off offence of handball) had been seen by one or more of the officials, it was not entitled to consider the matter further.

"It accordingly dismissed the complaint without any consideration of the merits of the incident or the decision arrived at by the referee."

Former SFA compliance officer Vincent Lunny, meanwhile, has expressed his surprise Meekings wasn't suspended for the final.

He said: "For me, it was a stonewaller. It is possibly just sympathy from the panel. At the end of the day, it's a jury and anything can happen."

Lunny, meanwhile, dismissed claims that citing Meekings for a handball set a dangerous precedent.

He said: "The rule itself is quite clear - it's any sending-off offence missed by match officials.

"If you pick and choose which offences you're going to raise arbitrarily, that would be a dangerous precedent."