BCCI AGM decisions subject to SC order

The BCCI has communicated Wednesday’s decision to the Lodha Committee and it will be interesting to see how the panel responds.

Anurag Thakur was chosen as the BCCI's representative to the ICC and ACC.

Despite the uncertainty prevailing over its legality, the BCCI's 87th Annual General Meeting (AGM) went ahead with all the decisions for the year 2016-17, with a rider. The AGM passed a resolution that all the decisions are “subject to the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court”. More importantly, the BCCI has called a Special General Meeting (SGM) on September 30 to deliberate on adopting the rules and regulations ordered by the Supreme Court.

“The 87th AGM of the BCCI is being held today 21st September 2016 and the proceedings are being conducted for the compliance of statutory provisions under which the BCCI is constituted and also for ensuring that the day to day operations of the BCCI are not hampered particularly in view of the ongoing major national and international tournaments, commitments and is subject to the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” stated a BCCI statement, issued after the conclusion of the meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The meeting took some of the important decisions, including Ajay Shirke’s >unanimous reappointment as the secretary till the 2017 AGM, appointments of three selection committees and sticking to President Anurag Thakur as India’s official representative in the ICC and the ACC.

Read:>No stand-off with ICC, says Shirke

The Justice R. N. Lodha Committee, appointed to oversee the implementation of the Supreme Court order, had clarified that the BCCI could not take any decisions about 2016-17. However, elaborating on the statement issued, Shirke said secretary’s election had to be done to ensure smooth functioning of the Board’s functioning.

“You will agree that the BCCI has to function on a day-to-day basis. There is the 500th Test match starting tomorrow. Do we say that the BCCI will function without a secretary? The secretary is the principal (executive) officer whose election had come to an end and going forward – whether it is to take instructions from the court or take decisions arising out of court – the secretary is the empowered person,” Shirke told reporters.

“So this is merely carrying out our day to day affairs; and all our decisions are subject to any orders of the court. It might be that tomorrow the court says all this is bad or illegal, we will have to go by that.”

It is understood that the BCCI has communicated Wednesday’s decision to the Lodha Committee. It will be interesting to see how the panel responds.

The BCCI, however, took yet another step towards implementing the Supreme Court order by calling the SGM on September 30, the last date of the timeline set by the Lodha panel to amend its rulebook. The SGM, according to the BCCI statement, will “consider the amendments to the rules and regulations of BCCI as recommended by Hon’ble Justice Lodha Committee”.

Near-miss for Srinivasan

N. Srinivasan’s return to top-level cricket administration was stalled hours before the AGM. The former BCCI and ICC chief was tipped to be nominated as India’s representative to the ICC. However, on the sidelines of the pre-AGM dinner hosted by the Mumbai Cricket Association chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday night, the tide turned again in Thakur’s favour.

While a section of the Board members are understood to have tried their best to convince the hierarchy about Srinivasan being the best man to resolve the mess BCCI finds itself in with the ICC, Thakur apparently stood firm on representing the BCCI. According to a member, Thakur didn’t want to give up on the ICC post so that he could have something up his sleeve once he vacates the BCCI and Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association posts, if and when the Supreme Court order has to be implemented.