Ganguly's CAB tenure to be over in June

Sourav Ganguly, currently the president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), has already enjoyed a cumulative tenure of two years and six months since he was elected the joint secretary of the state body in July 2014.

Ganguly will have only six months if he opts for any position in the BCCI.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly’s immediate administrative future can last for only six months before he has to go for the compulsory cooling off period of three years. This came in the clarifications offered by Justice Lodha panel in a seven-point FAQ issued on Thursday. Ganguly, currently the president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), has already enjoyed a cumulative tenure of two years and six months since he was elected the joint secretary of the state body in July 2014.

The former India captain was tipped as a frontrunner for the post of the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, after the incumbent Anurag Thakur was asked to leave the post by the Supreme Court. The clarifications coming out in the FAQ released by Justice Lodha panel suggest that Ganguly will have only six months if he opts for any position in the BCCI. This also applies to his current post in CAB.

Read:

>Lodha FAQs virtually rule out Sourav from BCCI's top job

According to the clarification sent in the FAQ, it sates that “If at the time of election, the existing office-bearer has not completed a period of three years, he is eligible to contest the election. However, he will not have a full term and will have to demit office immediately upon the continuous three-year period being completed. This is to avoid any potential abuse. For example, if there were no such bar, an office-bearer could resign after two years and nine months, and then claim eligibility to stand out at the next election three months later on the ground that a new term would commence.”

According to the clarifications issued in the FAQs, many of the current office-bearers in CAB will also lose their eligibility of continuing as an office-bearer in any capacity, having completed the cumulative time of nine years. Prominent among them will be the treasurer Biswarup Dey. The current treasurer has already completed a cumulative tenure of 10 years in the CAB and will have to vacate his office immediately. Dey had earlier contended that as he was the assistant secretary of CAB for some time, it would not be counted when ascertaining the nine-year period. The Lodha panel FAQ said: “If the Constitution/Bye Laws of the State/Member association has defined the post (Assistant Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, Director etc.) as an office-bearer post, then the tenure of an individual in any of those posts will be reckoned while determining whether the nine-year period has been completed. For example, in an association where the constitution refers to the assistant treasurer as an office-bearer, if a person has occupied that post for three years and also been secretary for six years, he stands disqualified.

This also applies for one of the joint secretaries, Subir Ganguly, who only has a few months remaining of the nine-year period. His colleague Abhishek Dalmiya is the only one among the few who will be able to retain their office.