Wary of conflict of interest, senior advocate Fali Nariman on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to excuse him from the responsibility of finding suitable persons for the Committee of Administrators to run the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Nariman said it would be “embarrassing” for him to get involved in the assignment as he had been BCCI’s lawyer in 2009.
The apex court had commissioned Nariman and senior lawyer Gopal Subramaniam to provide it “objective assistance” in selecting persons of experience and integrity for the committee.
In a formal order, a Bench of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud accepted Nariman’s recusal and appointed senior advocate Anil Divan in his place.
“We quite appreciate the difficulty expressed by Nariman and accordingly discharge him of the role assigned to him. In his place, we request Anil B. Divan, learned senior counsel, to assist the Court and to recommend suitable names for appointment as members of the committee of administrators in consultation with the amicus, Gopal Subramaniam,” the order said.
The decision to form the committee was part of an order passed by a Bench of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud on January 2, stripping BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke of their posts.
