BCCI office-bearers cannot work independently

As of now only the 31 members have the right to change the MoU and Rules and Regulations of the BCCI. And the CoA is not even in the know of who are eligible to be called for a Special General Meeting.

Restrictions placed by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) have not gone down well with the State associations.

 

Can BCCI office-bearers C.K. Khanna, Amitabh Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhry work independently of the Committee of Administrators (CoA)?

In its order of January 2, 2017 that removed Anurag Thakur as BCCI president and Ajay Shirke as secretary, the Supreme Court said:

“Upon the CoA nominated by this Court assuming charge, the existing office-bearers shall function subject to the supervision and control of the CoA. The CoA would have the power to issue all appropriate directions to facilitate due supervision and control.”

The Supreme Court also said the CoA shall supervise the administration of BCCI through its Chief Executive Officer (Rahul Johri).

And, after naming the members of the CoA, the Supreme Court by its order of January 30 said: “Mr. Vinod Rai shall be the Chairman of the CoA. The CEO of BCCI shall report to the CoA and the administrators shall supervise the management of BCCI.”

The office-bearers who have not been affected by the disqualification norm at the BCCI level — Amitabh Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) — have submitted their undertaking, the contents of which have not been revealed so far.

In the absence of any information on the nature of the undertaking given by the office-bearers, the Supreme Court’s interpretation, on Friday (March 24), of the nine-year tenure ceiling set by the Lodha Committee and later validated by the Supreme Court judgment of July 18, 2016, may have led Messrs. Khanna, Amitabh Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhry understand that they have the right to discharge their functions.

But, according to the order of January 2 and 30, they can do so “only under the supervision and control of the CoA.”

All the aforementioned office-bearers would go into the three-year cooling off period only when notice for the next BCCI election is served.

That’s the million-dollar question now because the CoA is still trying to find ways to persuade the full members to accept the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations.

As of now only the 31 members have the right to change the MoU and Rules and Regulations of the BCCI. And the CoA is not even in the know of who are eligible to be called for a Special General Meeting.

The news on the grapevine is that eventually the entire reforms in cricket report may be referred to a Constitution Bench.