
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed revision of BCCI’s constitution. The court further paved the way for its President Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to continue in office. They do not have to serve the mandatory cooling-off period.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said that an office bearer can have continuous tenure of 12 years. The tenure again includes six years in the State Association and six years in BCCI before the cooling-off period of three years triggers.
They further informed that an office bearer can serve on a specific post for two consecutive terms, both at the BCCI and the State Association level. After this, he would have to serve three years of cooling-off period before rejoining.
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“The purpose of the cooling-off period is not to create undesirable monopolies”, the bench said.
The BCCI, in its proposed amendment, has also asked for nullification of a cooling-off period for its office bearers which would enable Ganguly and Shah to continue in office as President and Secretary despite completing six years at respective state cricket associations.
Meanwhile, previously the Justice R M Lodha-led committee had proposed reforms in the BCCI. Notably, the constitution of the BCCI, which was earlier approved by the top court, prescribes a mandatory three-year cooling-off period for anyone who had served two consecutive terms of three years each in the state cricket association or the BCCI.
While allowing BCCI, SC said, “We are of the considered view that the amendment would not dilute the original objective. We accept the proposed amendment. Amendment proposed by BCCI doesn’t detract from the spirit of our original judgment and is accepted.”
To be noted Sourav Ganguly became BCCI president on October 23, 2019, while Jay Shah took over as the BCCI secretary on October 24, 2019. Their tenures were ending in October 2022 but now both of them will get to serve another term.