With barely a few hours remaining for the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) annual general meeting (AGM), the board was in no mood to back down from the possible breach of the Supreme Court order.
The Justice R. N. Lodha Committee, which has been appointed to oversee the implementation of the Supreme Court directive of implementing BCCI’s administrative overhaul, has made public its communication to BCCI about not conducting any business related to 2016-17 in the AGM. However, the BCCI – following independent legal advice – has decided to proceed as per the agenda, including various appointments for 2016-17.
The most vital appointment is the re-election of Ajay Shirke as Secretary. Since Shirke was nominated as Secretary by President Anurag Thakur, the AGM had to elect the new Secretary.
A BCCI press release issued late in the evening confirmed Shirke’s was the “only nomination received” during the two-hour window on Tuesday. Neither Shirke nor Thakur spoke with the reporters before joining a dinner with BCCI member representatives, hosted by Mumbai Cricket Association chief Sharad Pawar.
The other major appointment that will happen during the AGM is that of all the standing, special and sub-committees, including the selection committees. For the second day in succession, the BCCI continued to interview candidates. While Thakur and chief executive Rahul Johri had interacted with almost 20 candidates in New Delhi on Monday, Tuesday saw Shirke and Thakur interacting with almost a dozen more applicants, primarily from west and south zones, at a suburban hotel.
Sportstar understands that of the existing selection panel, the two selectors who are eligible – Gagan Khoda and M.S.K. Prasad – have applied to be re-appointed. So has chief junior selector Venkatesh Prasad. The other prominent candidates who were interviewed over two days included Vijay Dahiya, Amit Bhandari, Sarandeep Singh, Maninder Singh, Ravneet Ricky, Abey Kuruvilla, Rajesh Chauhan, Nilesh Kulkarni, Lalchand Rajput, Nayan Mongia, Ashok Thakur, Gyanendra Pandey and Gopal Sharma.
Despite the BCCI’s strategy to take on the legal system heads on, some of the members feel it is the beginning of the BCCI’s ploy to bring world cricket to a stand-still in the near future. “We are given to understand that once the AGM discusses the forthcoming year’s agenda, the decisions will be termed illegal and the Board may be sued for contempt of court,” a seasoned BCCI member said, requesting anonymity.
“Once that happens, the court may appoint an administrator to conduct BCCI affairs since the BCCI cannot function without a secretary. If that happens, it would lead to possible sanctions from the BCCI, which could have a huge impact on the global cricket scenario.”
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