Court sets aside motion against RCA

The Rajasthan High Court has set aside the no-confidence motion against the elected Rajasthan Cricket Association officials headed by Lalit Modi, giving the Amin Pathan group 30 days to propose a fresh motion. However, despite Wednesday's order, the RCA continues to remain suspended by the BCCI.

An order passed by the court stated that Pathan's takeover of the RCA last year was illegal since the alleged no-confidence motion had been held without the requisite 21-day notice. The court asked the chairman of the Rajasthan Sports Council, who was given charge of RCA affairs in last October, to pass on the mantle to Modi's faction on March 13 in case the Pathan group does not propose a no-confidence motion till then.

According to Mehmood Abdi, a key Modi aide, even if the no-confidence motion is upheld, the sports council "will have to initiate fresh elections". This would certainly be a shot in the arm for Modi, the former IPL chairman who has been residing in London for almost five years since his expulsion from the BCCI in April 2010. Pathan remained unavailable for a comment.

Even if the members of Modi's group are reinstated as RCA administrators, the association will continue to be suspended. The BCCI had suspended RCA immediately after Modi was elected the president on May 2014, on the grounds of having allowed a person expelled for life from the BCCI to contest the elections.