In a blow to former BCCI president N. Srinivasan, the Supreme Court on Monday directed that only office-bearers of State cricket associations and member bodies are allowed to attend the Special General Body (SGM) meeting of the Board scheduled on July 26.
“You send your office-bearers. Don’t send Mr. N. Srinivasan. We do not want the meeting to be stalled. Implement as much of the Lodha Committee reforms as you can. All members shall only send their office-bearers,” Justice Dipak Misra, who headed a three-judge Bench, also comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, orally observed before dictating the order in the open court.
The Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud asked the members to comply with all the Lodha recommendations except certain contentious issues raised by BCCI members like One State One Vote, memberships, number of votes allotted to members and membership patterns. These would be heard by the court separately on a later date and even be subject to modification.
The court passed the order on the basis of a report filed by Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) led by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai that ousted BCCI president N. Srinivasan and Saurashtra Cricket Association representative Niranjan Shah attended an SGM on June 26 held in Mumbai as the ‘nominees’ of their respective cricket associations and used the platform to ‘hijack’ the meeting and stall reform in Indian cricket.
Putting up a spirited defence, Mr. Srinivasan, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, accused the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) of targeting him as the ‘villain of cricket’.
He submitted that he had attended three earlier meetings – May 6, May 7 and June 25 – in the same capacity as nominee of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
“No one complained then because I did not speak. On June 26, I spoke. I said applications and a review petition were pending in the Supreme Court and we should wait for its outcome. They (CoA) did not like that, so they have accused me. If I say something, I am disrupting them. If I agree with all they say about implementing the Lodha recommendations, they have no problem with me attending meetings,” Mr. Sibal submitted.
Mr. Sibal said his client has every right as a member of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association to be nominated by the body to represent it at the June 26 meeting in Mumbai. The Supreme Court judgment only bars disqualified office-bearers and not members of State cricket bodies from representing them.
“The disqualification is only limited to the president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer and not to members. It is my right as a member to represent my cricketing body,” Mr. Sibal contended.
On July 9, the court had remarked that State and member cricket associations of BCCI had no business to choose disqualified former office-bearers as their nominees for BCCI meetings. The CoA has said that Mr. Srinivasan is over 70 and thus crossed the age limit for office-bearers.
