New Delhi: Supreme Court has allowed BCCI to amend its constitution, which in effect will give Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay Shah and former Cricket legend Sourav Ganguly, a second three-year term till 2025 and strike off the mandatory cooling off period.
"We are of the considered view that the amendment would not dilute the original objective. We accept the proposed amendment." "Amendment proposed by BCCI doesn't detract from spirit of our original judgment& is accepted," the Apex Court said.
The BCCI appealed to the Supreme Court to amend the constitution of the Indian Cricket Board by reducing the recommendations of the Lodha Commission. The Supreme Court has accepted the plea of Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah to extend the term of the Indian Cricket Board seeking relaxation of the 'cooling off period'.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said that an office bearer can have continuous tenure of 12 years which includes six years in State Association and six years in BCCI before the cooling-off period of three years triggers. The bench said that an office bearer can serve on a particular post for two consecutive terms, both at the BCCI and the State Association level, after which he would have to serve three years cooling-off period.
"The purpose of the cooling-off period is not to create undesirable monopolies", the bench said. The top court's order came on the Board's plea seeking 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.
The BCCI, in its proposed amendment, has sought the abolition of a cooling-off period for its office bearers which would enable Ganguly and Shah to continue in office as President and Secretary despite them having completed six years at respective state cricket associations. Earlier, the Justice R M Lodha-led committee had recommended reforms in the BCCI which have been accepted by the top court.
The constitution of the BCCI, which was earlier 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.
