Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah may finally hope for some relief from the Supreme Court in the mandatory cooling off period clause.
The Chief Justice of India-led two-judge Bench has agreed to hear the BCCI plea for permission to modify the constitution. Mr Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, the CJI, and Mr Justice L Nageswara Rao have agreed to hear the matter after two weeks.
The BCCI had moved an application to amend the clause on mandatory cooling off period. Under the revised BCCI constitution, that adheres to Justice Lodha Commission recommendations, it is mandatory for the cricket administrators to take a compulsory three-year break after serving two consecutive terms, not exceeding six years, in the State cricket bodies and / or the BCCI.
The BCCI move aims to primarily enable president Ganguly and Shah to complete full three-year terms in the board. Under the present constitution Shah had to demit the office of the BCCI secretary last month. Ganguly’s tenure as the board president will be over on Sunday, July 27.
Both Ganguly and Shah were elected to the BCCI offices after having served their respective State cricket associations for more than five years. Ganguly has been the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, whereas Shah was a joint secretary in the Gujarat Cricket Association before being elected to the BCCI.
Hours before the matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court, Jharkhand Cricket Association life member Naresh H Makani had urged Justice Rao to recuse himself from the case. Makani had raised conflict of interest concerns.
Also read: SC Judge urged to recuse himself from BCCI case hearing over conflict of interest
The BCCI in an appeal on April 21, had urged the Supreme Court to not to exclude office-bearers terms in the board from their tenures served in the State associations. The board has also requested the Apex Court to do away with a clause allowing any amendment to the BCCI constitution only with the Supreme Court’s approval.