THE SUPREME COURT DECLARED ON Friday that it will hear next week an urgent plea moved by the Board of Control for Cricket in India seeking to amend its constitution that would allow its top office bearers – president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah – to continue in office.
A plea was mentioned in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking an urgent hearing on a petition seeking amendments in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) constitution.
The plea was mentioned by senior advocate PS Patwalia, who apprised the top court that the matter was pending for years, to which Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said that it will see.
A plea had been filed by BCCI seeking a direction for the extension of the tenure of Ganguly and Shah. The BCCI has sought permission to change the rules relating to “cooling off” period for the president, secretary, and other office bearers.
It bears noting that this matter has been in “cold storage” since August 2020, which was when the BCCI had sought the apex court’s permission to amend Rule 6.4 of its constitution, in “public and national interest”.
Clause 6.4 of the BCCI’s constitution reads: “An office-bearer who has held any post for two consecutive terms either in a state association or in the BCCI (or in a combination of both) shall not be eligible to contest any further election without completing a cooling-off period of three years.”
This had rendered both Shah and Ganguly ineligible to hold on to their posts as secretary and president, as their terms had ended in July 2020.
For the record, it was in October 2019 that the two were elected to the BCCI positions they currently hold. But since both men had already had lengthy stints as office-holders at the Gujarat and West Bengal cricket associations respectively, the legality of their continuance had come into question.
