A second petition has been filed by the BCCI in the Supreme Court of India followed by the first one in December 2019.
The Indian cricket board has asked for approval of several amendments recommended at its annual general meeting last year. One of the proposals is related to the tenure of president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah.
The petition was filed on April 24 after the initial was not given a hearing.
If the amendments get acceptance, a number of major reforms which the court itself had mandated in August 2018 would be wiped out. One of the major recommendations in the petition is to extend the tenure of president and secretary until 2025 bypassing the mandatory cooling-off period.
In case the court does not address and approve the same, both senior officials will enter their cooling-off periods soon. Ganguly’s term ends this July, as he started as secretary at the Cricket Association of Bengal in 2014, and then went on to honour the president’s position in 2015 and was re-elected in September 2019 before moving to the BCCI. Shah, on the other hand, became the joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) in 2014.
According to ESPNcricnfo’s report, the BCCI said in the petition, “It is submitted that the provision contained in Rule 6.4 (cooling-off period) applies to the eligibility to contest the election and not continuance of an elected person who is already elected before the commencement of disqualification, the general body has, in its wisdom, thought it necessary to amend the said provision so as to ensure that in the fresh elections after 3 years, the BCCI is not deprived of the experience gained by the individuals in the State Association.”
The minutes of the AGM where the amendments were adopted was attached with the same. The board insisted that all members want that president and secretary should serve for six years at one go before going for cooling-off period.
It added, “It is respectfully submitted that this amendment is made preserving the spirit of the directions issued by this Hon’ble Court in as much as it is ensured that if any office bearer of the BCCI completes 6 years as an office bearer of the BCCI, he stands disqualified.”