NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has sought the Centre’s response on a PIL seeking removal of Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from the post of president of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), which draws attention to the fact that his appointment was in violation of the apex court order that a minister or a public servant cannot become an office bearer in a sports body.
A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud issued notice to the Centre asking it to file a response within eight weeks after which it will hear the matter again, a newswire PTI report said.
Senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Kamlesh Verma, a Delhi resident, alleged that Sarma was facing graft charges in the Saradha chit fund scam and had been summoned by CBI in the matter. He said that as per Justice R M Lodha committee recommendations on reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), there was a bar on ministers and civil servants and those above 70 from becoming its member.
The petition has sought a direction to appoint a committee of administrators, as done by the top court in the case of BCCI in 2016, to ensure smooth functioning of BAI. It has also sought the court’s direction to supersede other office-bearers of BAI with immediate effect and call for relevant records pertaining to sports body’s financial transactions ever since Sarma took charge as its President, the report said.
The apex court had on July 18, 2016 accepted Justice Lodha committee recommendations on reforms in the BCCI.
Sarma, Assam’s finance minister and a prominent BJP leader in the region, was appointed BAI president on April 23 last year after its then president Akhilesh Das Gupta died during his tenure.
