Patel to fight removal from BCA in court

Sanjay Patel, the BCCI secretary, has challenged his expulsion from the Baroda Cricket Association in court. Patel, who was removed as the BCA joint secretary on Saturday, has filed a suit in the Vadodara District Court.

"This act of the BCA managing committee is nothing but a premeditated act of vengeance by some of the BCA managing committee members, so I have challenged it in the court," Patel told ESPNcricinfo. "After consulting my lawyers, I am convinced that the managing committee has committed an unconstitutional move, so I will fight it out legally to be reinstated in my home association that I have been serving for over a decade."

The case will be heard on May 1.

On Saturday, the BCA managing committee cited Patel's unlawful co-option into the BCA managing committee in 2002 and ordered him to step down as an office-bearer and vacate his position from all sub-committees of the BCA. Patel was co-opted into the managing committee two years after becoming a BCA member in 2000. Since the BCA rules state a member cannot be co-opted for at least three years after his membership is approved, the managing committee removed Patel and three other members.