The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday will hear the BCCI’s plea for modifying its constitution, which will, in effect, allow president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to stay on, instead of stepping down and serving the mandatory cooling-off period.
Ganguly and Shah assumed charge as elected office-bearers last October after a near three-year period during which the BCCI was managed by the Committee of Administrators, appointed by the Supreme Court to help usher in the administrative reforms it had directed.
According to the existing rulebook, Shah, who served as the Gujarat Cricket Association joint-secretary before his elevation to the BCCI, should have demitted office at the end of June to serve the three-year cooling-off period. Ganguly is eligible to remain an office-bearer until next week.
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During the civil appeal filed on April 21, the BCCI requested the Supreme Court to separate the tenures of office-bearers of the BCCI and the State associations before serving mandatory cooling-off periods. The BCCI also requested the Supreme Court to do away with the clause of allowing amendments to the BCCI constitution only with the apex court’s approval.
Both moves appear to be at odds with the spirit of the Supreme Court-directed reforms.