Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Friday questioned the presence of former BCCI office-bearers N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah at a BCCI meeting as the both of them have already been barred from attending any such meeting. The Committee of Administrators held them responsible for the lack of progress made by the BCCI in terms of implementing the Lodha reforms.
The next BCCI SGM for discussing these recommendations would be held on July 26 and the Supreme Court hearing on this issue will take place two days before it.
Justice Dipak Mishra, during the hearing on Friday said, “if a person is disqualified to be an office bearer, he cannot be nominated by office bearers”.
The above statement by Mishra is true on the ground that both Srinivasan and Shah have been held ineligible as office-bearers as both have crossed 70 years of age and have exceeded their tenure at office but despite that, they have been present in the meetings of the Indian board as representatives of their state associations- Srinivasan for Tamil Nadu and Shah for Saurashtra. A BCCI report also states that the both of them have arrested the BCCI’s progress in the implementation of the Lodha reforms.
However, former BCCI president Anurag Thakur has been cleared of his perjury charges after he submitted an ‘unconditional apology’ to the Apex court on Thursday.
In the last month, a special committee led by Rajeev Shukla was formed by the BCCI to sort out the exact problems that the Indian board was facing in the implementation of the Lodha reforms in order to present them before the Supreme Court for a reconsideration.
Gopal Subramanium, an impartial adviser to the Supreme Court said that both Shah and Srinivasan , “hijiacked” the BCCI SGM’s which was meant for the discussion for shortlisting and ratifying the Lodha recommendations.
“Till now, most recommendations were by and large accepted,” said Subramanium but Shah and Srinivasan kept on insisting that, “nothing can be implemented.”
However on behalf of Srinivasan, Shah and all the other state associations, advocate Kapil Sibal argued that, “I am a member of TNCA. Nobody can take my membership away.”
The state associations have asserted that both Srinivasan and Shah weren’t present at the meetings as office-bearers but as representatives, in whose case the eligibility criteria set by the Lodha committee doesn’t apply.
In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary stated that the five state associations-Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa had put forward objections to the implementation of the recommendations that were agreed at the SGM on June 26.
He also highlighted the role of the CoA as they have met the state associations for a couple of times and also emphasised on the fact that the Vinod Rai led body could work with the BCCI in, “canvassing the impracticality or difficulties that may arise in implementation of some clauses” of these recommendations.
In addition to this, the acting secretary also said that the special committee formed by the BCCI wanted the restrictions to be removed for the representatives of the state bodies who were attending the meetings and also for the members of the different committees.
“The house also felt there should not be any disqualifications in terms of age, tenure or cooling off for representatives, nominees of the associations and the BCCI and the members of the BCCI committee,” said Chaudhary.
The other requests in the status report of the CoA wasn’t heard by the Supreme Court. The report would be heard on July 24. The apex court also accepted the resignation of Ramachandra Guha and Vikram Limaye from the Committee of Administrators and six names were suggested by Subramanium as possible replacements. Sibal also requested the court to grant his clients the right to suggest some names for the CoA. The request was fulfilled by the court who decided to hear this matter on July 24.
The lawyer advocating for Railways complained that they were now given an ‘associate status’ under the one-state-one-vote policy. Also he argued that despite Railways constantly contributing for the progress of Indian cricket, they aren’t invited to these meetings which figure out as to what their fate should be.
A ‘recall’ was suggested by him on this specific part of the order. The court said that they would hear the matter again on September 5 after Subramanium said that detailed discussions on this issue was already held.
Ban expires…
After the completion of the two-year ban imposed by the Lodha Committee, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals would thus be a part of the next season of the Indian Premier League.
Acting president of the BCCI, C.K Khanna said, “VIVO IPL will be enriched by the return of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Both the teams have enjoyed tremendous on-field success and have a mass following.
He added, “The loyal fans will again get to see their favourite teams and stars in action from the upcoming season of the IPL.”
Also IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said that it was a privilege to welcome back these two champion teams for the 11th edition of the IPL.