The Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed that BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and Vikram Limaye, MD and CEO of IDFC Ltd and member of the apex-court appointed four-member Committee of Administrators (CoA), will "enjoy equal status" at the ICC meet scheduled to be held in the first week of February, 2017.
Amicus curiae and senior advocate Gopal Subramanium informed the Supreme Court that ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar has already communicated that all arrangements for the travel of the three BCCI representatives to Dubai, where the crucial meeting is to be held, have been made.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing some member State cricket associations of the BCCI, including the Tamil Nadu cricket body, made an urgent mention before a Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra on Wednesday morning. Mr. Sibal said there has been some confusion regarding who is to go to ICC meet. According to media reports, the CoA had informed joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary that only BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Mr. Limaye would attend the Dubai meeting.
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Justice Misra, who heads the three-judge Bench in the BCCI case, agreed to hear the issue at 2 p.m.
Post-lunch, senior advocate Shyam Divan, who replaced Mr. Sibal, said an impression has been given that the CoA did not want the two BCCI old hands to be part of the Dubai meet. Mr. Divan submitted that this has been so despite the Supreme Court order of January 29 clearly saying that the joint secretary, the treasurer and Mr. Limaye would all represent the BCCI there.
However, at this point, Mr. Subramanium intervened to inform Justice Misra about Mr. Manohar's communication. "We have apprised the ICC about the court order. Mr. Manohar is an eminent lawyer himself. He knows that all three persons have been appointed by the Supreme Court to represent the BCCI in the ICC meet. He has conveyed by mail that travel arrangements for all the three have been made. There is no problem," the amicus submitted.
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Justice Misra said since matters have been resolved there was no need to convene the BCCI Bench, also comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud. Justice Misra observed that the order of the court is very clear and all the three representatives have been given equal status.