Patel set to depart from Baroda Cricket Association

Sanjay Patel, the BCCI secretary, will have to vacate his position in the Baroda Cricket Association, his home body, following a managing committee decision to bar him on technical grounds. Though Patel's position in the BCCI remains tenable, the development is a huge setback for the man who is considered as a N Srinivasan confidante.

Patel has been serving as one of the two joint-secretaries of BCA and is into his second two-year term. Even though he resumed office after a controversial election last year, the opposition faction led by former cricketers Anshuman Gaekwad and Kiran More have the majority in the present managing committee.

As a result, a resolution was moved during the last month's managing committee meeting against Patel's unlawful co-option into the managing committee for the first time way back in 2002. After seeking legal opinion on the matter, president Samarjitsinh Gaekwad upheld the decision to cancel Patel's status as an office-bearer along with three other co-opted managing committee members. Patel will be formally asked to resign from the post on Monday.

Patel became a BCA member in 2000 and a technicality was recently pointed out that the BCA regulations doesn't allow a member to be co-opted into the managing committee before three years since his membership has been approved. Patel is expected to contest the managing committee decision in the court.

The BCA decision, however, will not have any impact on Patel completing his one-year tenure as the BCCI secretary. The BCCI rules don't require an office bearer to hold a post in his home unit. According to the BCCI rules, eligibility to contest for an office-bearer's post is "(a) Past or present office bearers or vice presidents of the board. or (b) Any person who has represented a full member in at least two annual general meetings of the board as a representative of such member."

Since 2014-15, the tenure of the BCCI office-bearers will be increased to three years.