Top BCCI office bearers receive stern warning from court

The Supreme Court has given the BCCI three weeks to come back with "suggestions" related to the draft constitution that the Committee of Administrators (CoA) proposed for the BCCI. The court took a stern view of BCCI's stalling tactics; there has as yet been no official feedback to the draft constitution submitted by the CoA last Monday. The court threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against the three interim office bearers - president CK Khanna, secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry - but eventually let them off for the time being having warned them of "serious consequences" failing "absolute co-operation" in implementing the Lodha reforms in the BCCI.

The matter will next be heard on October 30; the court will be off for eight days for Diwali in October, which possibly adds to the three-week window given to the BCCI. The office bearers, who were present at the hearing, have been told to attend the October 30 hearing too.

The three office bearers will now have to individually list their suggestions, which could rid them of any loyalty issues they might have previously had as long-term members of the board as it were. During Thursday's hearing, the CoA's lawyer Parag Tripathi told the court that a "concerted attempt has been adopted by the office bearers not to follow the judgement of this Court." The court heard that the office bearers had shown "obstinate attitude and unnecessary intervention" despite "our order". Khanna and treasurer Chaudhry came in for special rebuke by the CoA's representative. The court heard that there hasn't been "a whisper from Khanna or Anirudh Chaudhry" to convince the board to pass a resolution. The CoA also made the court aware that the BCCI's general body made the CEO of the board leave a meeting, and that none of the office bearers made an attempt to make him stay.

The court stated in its order that it had already agreed to "debate" on "three or four" of the Lodha Committee recommendations. The court asked the three office bearers to provide suggestions to the CoA concerning these points and failure to do that would attract severe consequences. "If the aforesaid three office bearers do not give suggestions in accordance with the judgement of this court which has accepted the Justice Lodha Committee report, they shall face serious consequences," the court said in its order. "The draft constitution shall include the suggestions given by Justice Lodha Committee in its entirety so that a holistic document comes before this court."

One of the big "suggestions" the BCCI has with the draft constitution - in effect the Lodha Committee's recommendations - is that the elected general body wants to retain the power to control and decide the role, the functions and the powers of the professional wing of the board, which will be the CEO and other office bearers from "time to time". The CoA lawyer argued that it will defeat the spirit of Lodha recommendations, which sought to keep the political, elected wing of the board away from the professional wing.

The other two main suggestions are to do away with cooling-off period for office bearers and the policy of "one state, one vote". ESPNcricinfo understands that most of the BCCI's general body agrees to limit the objections to these three, but there are a few state associations within who don't want the objections be limited to these three. N Srinivasan's Tamil Nadu and Niranjan Shah's Saurashtra are believed to be leading that charge.

The lawyer representing the BCCI office bearers also emphasised that the draft constitution includes additions to the order passed by the Supreme Court on July 18 last year. Most of the FAQs, as clarified by the Lodha Committee later, are "beyond the judgement". The court asked the BCCI to make a note of all that in its "suggestions". The court, however, made it clear that it will have no further discussion on the issues of the strength of the selection committee, the status of non-state members such as Railways and Services, and the one-state-one-vote policy; the court has heard enough arguments, and will rule on it as it sees fit. The court also made it clear that there was no need for a further general body meeting for the purpose of drafting the new constitution of the board.

The court also asked the CoA to determine which is the rightful association to represent the Union Territory of Puducherry, which has been represented by "three claimants". The court asked the CoA to forward the report of the Affiliations Committee and sort out the issue in two weeks' time.