BCCI Seeks Urgent Hearing From Supreme Court To Allow Amendment Of Board's Constitution

Published - 15 Jul 2022, 07:20 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:10 AM

BCCI, Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah, Arun Dhumal

BCCI officials. (Photo: Twitter)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is seeking an urgent hearing from the Supreme Court on a plea for approval to amend six rules of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s constitution and the matter is expected to be heard next week.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah’s tenure is all set to expire this year in September. They were elected as the President and Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2019.

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In 2019 during an AGM, the BCCI proposed 6 amendments, including one in Rule 6 of the Constitution, which had barred BCCI and state board office bearers from holding office for more than 6 consecutive years.

IPL 2022, BCCI, Jay Shah, Sourav Ganguly. (Photo: IPL)

Any office bearers, who have been holding the position in the BCCI or State Cricket Body, or any combination, for six consecutive years, will have to undergo a mandatory 3-year “cooling off period” after their tenure, as per current rules. During the “cooling off period,” they are barred from holding office in either a state cricket body or in the BCCI.

Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah, before they were appointed as President and Secretary, had held positions in the state cricket board. Ganguly was the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) since 2014 and Shah was an office bearer in Gujarat Cricket Association since 2013. Currently, their tenure is technically under “extension”.

Amendment Proposed By BCCI Would Remove The 6-year Tenure Rule For The President And Secretary

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah (Image Credit: Twitter)

The AGM had proposed the amendment to allow for the BCCI office-bearers to hold positions in the state associations. Also, the amendment removes the 6-year tenure for the president and secretary of state associations. With the abolition of the “cooling off period” of office bearers like the Secretary and the President, the current President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah could continue in office.

“The provision contained in Rule 6.4 applies to the eligibility to contest the election and not continuance of an elected person who is already elected before the commencement of disqualification, the general body has, in its wisdom, thought it necessary to amend the said provision so as to ensure that in the fresh elections after 3 years, the BCCI is not deprived of the experience gained by the individuals in the state association,” as per the application moved before the Apex court.

Also, the other proposed amendment allows for “Supervision, direction and control” of the BCCI office-bearers on the day-to-day functioning of the BCCI.

Notably, the application for the approval of amendments was originally filed in April 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no hearing on the matter.

Meanwhile, Senior Advocate PS Patwalia mentioned the matter before the Chief Justice of India on Friday.

“The application was filed 2 years ago and it came up in April. Directions were to list it after 2 weeks but then CoVID came. Amendments are in the pipeline after the judgment. These remain pending,” Patwalia said while urging the bench to list the matter.

“We will see if it can be heard next week,” CJI NV Ramana said.