The Board of Control for Cricket in India was faced with a constitutional compulsion. The COVID-19 pandemic has come to its rescue. The BCCI has to mandatorily call the Annual General Meeting latest by September 30. It has been deferred indefinitely due to the prevailing COVID-19 threat.
An e-option was also ruled out as the AGM could not be conducted online.
The Board is registered as a society under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act of 1975. The act makes it mandatory for the society to conduct the AGM not later than September 30 every year.
Secretary Jay Shah has informed the State cricket associations that the AGM has been postponed indefinitely.
“Owing to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, the Registration Department, Tamil Nadu Government have extended the period for a registered society under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, to conduct an Annual General Meeting by three months, from September 2020 to December 2020,” PTI has quoted from Shah’s letter to the BCCI’s affiliated units.
“An Annual General Meeting of a registered society cannot be conducted online,” the letter further states. It refers to a Government Order No. 89 dated 16th June 2020 issued by the Commercial Taxes and Registration Department (‘Notification’) which reiterates the above.
“After taking legal opinion on the subject, BCCI decided to postpone the AGM to a later date. The BCCI Apex Council meetings have been conducted virtually amid the pandemic,” stated the letter.
“We also sought a legal opinion regarding the applicability of the Press Release and the Notification on BCCI and as per their view, the same is applicable and BCCI is not required to conduct its Annual General Meeting by 30 September 2020,” the letter stated.
“We will keep you informed regarding the date of the Annual General Meeting,” Shah wrote.
The last BCCI AGM was held in October 2019 when Sourav Ganguly took over as the president, ending a 33-month tenure of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators.