BCCI vs Lodha: Supreme Court expected to name interim board administrators today

The Supreme Court is expected to name the interim committee of BCCI administrators on 24 January. The announcement was due on 19 January, but was subsequently postponed, first by a day and then to Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3206852” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] On 20 January, Amicus Curiae Gopal Subramanium had submitted nine names as nominations for the BCCI administrators, which were submitted to the apex court in a sealed envelope. The Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi, appearing on behalf of the BCCI, had added that any decision of the apex court that affects the cricket body could also affect the government, despite the BCCI being a private body. The Attorney General had therefore urged the Court to reconsider its decision to strip former president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke of their powers. Another development was the Supreme Court verdict which stated that persons who have a cumulative tenure of 18 years in the BCCI and that state units are eligible to be elected as office bearers subject to a cooling off period. This was welcomed by several senior officials including those whose administrative careers got a new lease of life. Earlier, on 2 January, the Supreme Court had removed its president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke, saying they should “forthwith cease and desist from” the board’s work. The bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur had also said that the working of BCCI will be looked after by a committee of administrators. The bench had requested senior advocate Fali S Nariman and Gopal Subramanian, who were assisting in the matter as amicus curaie, to assist the court in nominating persons of impeccable integrity as the members in the committee of administrators. However, Nariman recused himself and the Court chose Anil B Divan in his place. The bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said that Nariman and Subramanian will complete the task in two weeks and the matter for passing the direction for nominating the persons in committee of administrators was set to be complete by 19 January. Earlier in the month, the apex court also decided to initiate contempt proceedings against Thakur by seeking his response as to why he should not be held liable for obstructing the implementation of the court’s directions aimed at reforming BCCI. The verdict had made it clear that as per the recommendations of the Lodha panel which has been accepted by the apex court, no person above 70 years of age, unsound mind, ministers, government servant, convicted persons and those who have held the posts for cumulative period of nine years and those who are part of any other sports association shall be eligible to hold any position in the cricket bodies. With inputs from agencies