BCCI's plea for abolition of cooling-off period for office bearers to be heard by SC

The Supreme Court on Monday (September 12) said that it would hear on September 13, a plea of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seeking the court's permission to amend its constitution concerning the tenure of its office bearers including that of the President and Secretary.

The BCCI, in its proposed amendment, has sought the abolition of a cooling-off period for its office bearers which would enable Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah to continue in office as President and Secretary despite them having completed six years at respective state cricket associations.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the BCCI, that it would take up the matter along with other matters related to the functioning of the cricket board on Tuesday afternoon.

The top court asked senior advocate Maninder Singh, who has been appointed amicus curiae in the matter, after the elevation of senior advocate PS Narasimha, as top court's judge, to collate all the intervention applications and place it before the court so that it can have a brief idea about the issues.

Original petitioner Aditya Verma, who initially brought the issue before the top court, appeared in person and said that a lot of irregularities are taking place in Bihar Cricket Association and its constitution is being changed without the leave of the court.

Mehta had earlier told the court that as per earlier orders, the constitution can only be amended with the leave of the court, and hence the cricket body has moved an application in this regard.

The plea of the BCCI seeks to amend its constitution concerning the tenure of its office bearers including its President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah by doing away with the mandatory cooling-off period between tenures of office bearers across state cricket associations and the BCCI.

Earlier, the Justice RM Lodha-led committee had recommended reforms in the BCCI which have been accepted by the top court. The constitution of the BCCI, which has been approved by the top court, stipulates a mandatory three-year cooling-off period for anyone who had served two consecutive terms of three years each in the state cricket association or the BCCI.

While Ganguly was an office bearer in the Cricket Association of Bengal, Shah had served in the Gujarat Cricket Association.