Three top Board of Control for Cricket in India office-bearers -- Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah and Jayesh George -- will continue to stay in power, for now. The Supreme Court on Thursday could not hear the BCCI matter fully as the amicus curiae still had to file some reports relating to the petitions listed for deliberation. (More Cricket News)
The Supreme Court Bench of Justice L. Narasimha Rao and Justice Vineet Saran has decided to hear the BCCI matter "after two weeks."
Amicus PS Narasimha said in Thursday's virtual hearing that he will file his reports by this weekend. Narasimha was appointed in March 2019 to assist the Supreme Court in disposing of several cases related to cricket administration in India.
More than a dozen petitions are to be disposed of by Justice Rao's bench. Most petitions want a roll back of clauses in the new BCCI constitution approved by the Supreme Court in August 2018 on the basis of recommendations made by former Chief Justice of India, RM Lodha.
According to the new BCCI constitution, the three officials in question should have been 'cooling off' for three years each after spending six years as cricket administrators in a state association or BCCI. Their terms ended around middle of 2020.
The BCCI itself is asking for six amendments in the constitution that was approved by a former CJI, Justice Dipak Misra. Among many things, BCCI wants Ganguly, Shah and George to continue and no 'cooling off' should be applied.
Justice Rao, who had investigated betting and match-fixing in IPL in 2014, is keen to dispose of the BCCI matter. On February 16, he had admonished Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, the BCCI counsel, for repeatedly seeking adjournments.
Justice Rao had said: "We can't keep adjourning like this. We had adjourned six times. Don’t adjourn ... we will not adjourn it... list on March 23."
The BCCI matter, of course, could not be heard on March 23 as Justice Rao was busy as part of the Constitution Bench hearing the Maratha Reservation case.
Justice Rao, who has seen the removal of two former BCCI presidents -- N. Srinivasan and Anurag Thakur -- by the Supreme Court seems keen to find a solution to this BCCI impasse.
"If the Supreme Courts wants me to go, I will go. It will impact Jay Shah too," Ganguly had told Outlook before. In a recent interview with a TV channel, the BCCI president said he will make his next career move "once the Supreme Court decides on my BCCI role."
The BCCI apex council is scheduled to meet on April 16 to discuss a slew of matters ranging from illegal T20 cricket tournaments (Bihar recently hosted one) to World T20 in India later this year.
