Jay Shah, the son of BJP heavyweight Amit Shah, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to extended his tenure as the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. According to a source in the know of things, Shah sent an e-mail to the Supreme Court on Sunday.
Shah was elected as BCCI secretary in October 2019. He was one of the five office-bearers who was elected unopposed in the BCCI elections in Mumbai. Sourav Ganguly (president), Arun Singh Dhumal (treasurer), Jayesh George (joint secretary) and Mahim Verma (vice-president) were the others. Dhumal is the brother of BJP honcho and former BCCI president Anurag Thakur.
Shah and Ganguly were elected in the knowledge that they will not serve their full term of three years each as BCCI secretary and president, respectively.
As per the recommendations of the RM Lodha Commission, on the basis of which the new BCCI constitution was inked, both Shah and Ganguly will each have to 'cool off' for three years once they completed six years as an office-bearer in either a state association or the Indian Board.
Shah has been joint-secretary of Gujarat Cricket Association since 2013 before he became an BCCI office-bearer. Similarly, Ganguly, who had been a joint secretary and then president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, will also be completing six years either at a state body or BCCI.
Jay Shah, who apparently stopped functioning as BCCI secretary on May 7, has applied for extension. A proof that he has stopped functioning as an office-bearer is the fact that BCCI media releases are now being signed by Dhumal.
At the Board's 88th Annual General Meeting in December last year, the members unanimously agreed that Ganguly and his team should serve a full six years at the BCCI.
Shah's petition will now test the Supreme Court's mood. In earlier rulings, the apex court had tended to be lenient to the BCCI, much to the chagrin of Lodha, a former Chief Justice of India.
Shah has apparently said in his petition that continuity will help BCCI at a time when cricket is facing a crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic. If the Supreme Court upholds Shah's appeal, it will also mean Ganguly could also enjoy a possible Supreme Court-mandated extension. The former skipper's tenure as BCCI boss ends July.
