The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) case just got murkier
~By Sujit Bhar
The government on Friday jumped into issue, with Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi requesting the apex court to reconsider its decision to sack the top brass and appoint administrators.
It may be recalled that going by the Lodha Committee recommendations, the top court had sacked two of BCCI’s top functionaries—president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke.
Today, the government got into the picture, being a third party to the issue.
Friday was the day the apex court was to hear from the Amicus Curiae it had appointed as to who the top people would be in the Board. It got a sealed cover which contained nine names (with reasons) from senior lawyer Gopal Subramaniam. At this the bench, comprising Justices Dipak Misra, AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said: “We don’t think that these names should be circulated. You have filed nine names. A committee cannot have nine members. We don’t think all of them can be selected.”
At this Subramaniam said that the court can drop all names but “me (sic) and senior advocate Anil Divan have given… all efforts to select these names, but it totally depends on this court. But we do need a committee as soon as possible because next matches are going to come.”
The court has decided that it will look into the names and pass orders by Wednesday on the composition and size of the committee.
There was one clarification issued by the court. It clarified that only if a person has been a member of the BCCI or an office bearer for a period of nine years will he be barred from any further term in office. The earlier order barred members who had been serving a nine-year term or more in either BCCI or any state association or both combined.
This opens up space for more nominations to be considered, including some famous ones who would not have made the cut had the earlier order been persisted with.
Lead picture: (L-R) Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha, whose panel recommended reforms to overhaul BCCI; Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi represented the centre