Asking them to file their replies to the complaint by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) led by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, for their presence at a crucial BCCI meeting, the apex court issued notice ousted BCCI president N. Srinivasan and Saurashtra Cricket Association representative Niranjan Shah and
The court will hear this issue exclusively on July 24.
The State and member cricket associations of BCCI have no business to choose disqualified persons as their nominees, the Supreme Court prima facie observed on Friday.
A Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra was reacting to a report by Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) led by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, that Mr. Srinivasan and Mr. Shah attended a Special General Body meeting (SGM) on June 26 in Mumbai as "nominees" of their respective cricket associations. Mr. Rai alleged that the two used the platform to "hijack" the meeting and stall reform in Indian cricket.
In oral observation, the Supreme Court bench said, "If a person is disqualified as an office bearer, he cannot be nominated... Office bearers cannot nominate a disqualified person."
CoA counsel and senior advocate Parag Tripathi and C.U. Singh said that Mr. Srinivasan, who attended the June 26 meeting as the nominee of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, is both disqualified under the nine-year maximum limit for office-bearers and is above the age limit of 70. Mr. Tripathi said Mr. Shah would "definitely be hit by the age limit rule".
'Nothing illegal in attending SGM'
"But they are members of these associations. What is wrong with an association choosing its member to attend the SGM? It is nowhere said in the Supreme Court judgment that a member cannot attend the meetings. There is an increasingly anti-Srinivasan and anti-Shah atmosphere here," senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for some of the State associations, countered.
Amicus curiae and senior advocate Gopal Subramanium hit back, saying "he (Srinivasan) can come, but not under the subterfuge of a nominee".
In its fourth report to the Supreme Court, the CoA details the “manifestly disruptive” atmosphere of the Special General Meeting (SGM) held on June 26. On the agenda were issues like the revised text of the BCCI Constitution, the new Conflict of Interest Rules, appointment of Ombudsman, the new funds disbursal policy and discussion on the core principles and policies in tune with the Justice Lodha Committee reforms endorsed by the Supreme Court. The CoA said substantial consensus was reached among the Board members prior to the SGM, however the presence of “disqualified” office-bearers of the BCCI like Mr. Srinivasan and Mr. Shah turned the cart and hardly any headway was made. The CoA complained that the very fact that State and member associations are able to appoint persons disqualified by the Supreme Court itself is a violation of the true intention and spirit of the court's orders for transparency in cricket. The ability of these disqualified persons to find a place in the SGM as representatives of member associations ensures that “they are effectively able to do indirectly what they have been prohibited by the Supreme Court from doing directly”. Terming the conduct of the BCCI members as “abhorrent behaviour”, the report mentions how Mr. Shah was even included as an “invitee” to a Special Committee in the June 26 SGM meeting. “From an audio recording of the SGM, it appears that such disqualified persons were able to effectively hijack proceedings at the SGM by prevailing upon other attendees (who may have been otherwise willing to facilitate the reform process) to either support the cause of such disqualified persons or remain silent,” the CoA report pointed out. The report asked the court to pass orders to “injunct” these disqualified persons from “interfering with the functioning of the CoA”. Meanwhile, the court relieved CoA members, cricket historian Ramachandra Guha and Vikram Limaye, who has been appointed as the National Stock Exchange chief, from their duties. Mr. Guha had resigned , but not without expressing his strong reservations about several conflict of interest issues within the cricketing officialdom.
