MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India, acting true to form when it comes to best practices, due process and governance principles, has indefinitely postponed its Annual General Meeting, which was required to be held before September 30.
As for the justification cited by the BCCI to give the AGM the “heave-ho”: “The meeting cannot be held online”. Pray why? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge – the COVID-19 pandemic makes an online meeting “impossible”, argue the men who matter in the world’s richest and most arbitrarily managed cricketing body.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah has informed the state units about the postponement, PTI reports. The Indian cricket board is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 and is required by law to hold its AGM before September 30 each year.
“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,” Shah wrote in the letter accessed by PTI.
Shah’s letter further states that an “Annual General Meeting of a registered society cannot be conducted online. 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 indefinitely. It bears noting that if the BCCI were really interested in following the legal principle and a Supreme Court judgment to the “T”, then neither Shah nor BCCI president Sourav Ganguly should be continuing in their present positions in the Indian cricket board. But that’s another story altogether.
Additionally, it bears noting that the BCCI’s apex council meetings have been conducted virtually during the ongoing pandemic.
Coming back to Shah’s letter, it further reads: “We also sought 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.”
“We will keep you informed regarding the date of the Annual General Meeting,” Shah further wrote.
The last BCCI AGM was held in October 2019 when Sourav Ganguly took over as the president, ending the sorry 33-month tenure of the Supreme Court-appointed and Vinod Rai-chaired Committee of Administrators.
