The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday has agreed to hear the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) application, seeking modification of its constitution which would allow president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to hold on to their posts after waiving off the mandatory cooling-off period, after 2 weeks.
A 2-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde heard the plea on Wednesday. The decision on whether Ganguly and Shah will continue in their top posts was expected to be taken today but it has now been postponed.
The BCCI on April 21 had filed a petition in the apex court, seeking an extension of Ganguly and Shah's tenures till 2025. Both had taken charge of their respective posts in October 2019.
Jay Shah's tenure apparently ended on May 7 while Sourav Ganguly's term will come to an end on July 27.
It became mandatory that the BCCI office-bearers will have to go into a cooling-off period for 3 years after serving for 6 years as an office-bearer in either a state association or the Indian cricket board, as per Lodha Committee recommendations.
IPL spot-fixing case petitioner Aditya Verma said his lawyers won't oppose a waiver of the cooling-off period when the matter comes to hearing in the apex court.
"I have always maintained that Sourav Ganguly is the best man to lead BCCI. I believe Dada and Jay Shah should get a full term to again stabilize BCCI. Therefore, on behalf of CAB, I will not have an objection if Dada is allowed to continue as BCCI president. Out of his nine months, four months have already been lost due to coronavirus and any administrator needs time to implement plans and policies,” he told PTI.
(PTI/India Today inputs)
