With hours remaining for its emergent Special General Meeting (SGM) — called “to consider directions of the Justice (Retd.) Lodha Committee in connection with the formal adoption of the new Memorandum of Association and Rules for the BCCI” — the members are in “the dark” about the eventual outcome of the meeting.
The BCCI, conventionally, ensures all members are informally briefed about the proceedings on the eve of a crucial meeting.
However, on Thursday, most members were “in the dark and confused”, as stated by a seasoned State association official, in the wake of the Chief Justice of India’s ultimatum to the BCCI.
A day before the SGM, to be held at the BCCI headquarters here, most members were unable to establish contact with the hierarchy.
While president Anurag Thakur is still overseas — expected to arrive here on Friday morning — secretary Ajay Shirke is understood to have spent the day in New Delhi, discussing the possible options for Friday’s meeting with legal luminaries.
A State association representative revealed that before the Supreme Court delivered yet another rap on the knuckles on Wednesday, BCCI corridors were abuzz with whispers of the members being asked to vote against accepting the new constitution.
That could have created another legal conundrum since multiple Supreme Court judgements specify members cannot be asked to vote in a particular manner.
However, after Wednesday’s development, many State association officials have become wary of not passing the resolution in favour of amending the rules.
A BCCI member who is involved in discussions revealed that a resolution “with a few reservations” may be passed on Friday.
On the other hand, speculations are rife that Thakur and Shirke may resign at the start of Friday’s SGM.
If that actually happens, the meeting will find it difficult to pass any resolution and the BCCI’s reins will automatically be passed on to the Supreme Court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha Committee.
If the SGM accepts the new constitution in totality, all the BCCI office-bearers will have to forego their posts immediately and the chief executive officer, in consultation with the Lodha Committee, will have to initiate the election procedure as per the new rules.
Reacting to the Lodha Committee’s status report, CJI T.S. Thakur on Wednesday had asked BCCI to “fall in line” by October 6.
If the BCCI still remains defiant, then not only the hierarchy but, more importantly, the institution also may dig a deeper hole for itself.
