Johri conducted selection meetings to avoid contempt of court

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri was told by the Justice Lodha Committee that the revised Supreme Court order of January 3 had disqualified Amitabh Choudhary as Jt. Secretary of the BCCI, and hence he had lost his right to convene any meeting.

Choudhary would have attracted the contempt of court proceedings if he had conducted the selection committee meetings and hence Johri went ahead convened the meetings.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri was told by the Justice Lodha Committee that the revised Supreme Court order of January 3 had disqualified Amitabh Choudhary as Jt. Secretary of the BCCI, and hence he had lost his right to convene any meeting.

Choudhary would have attracted the contempt of court proceedings if he had conducted the selection committee meetings and hence Johri went ahead convened the meetings.

Former BCCI officials affected by the Supreme Court order have been referring to FAQ no. 8 in the committee’s website lodhacommittee.wordpress.com. The q & A is as follows:

Q. So a person who has held an office bearer post in a state for 9 years or more is still eligible to be a councillor/office bearer of BCCI ?

A. Yes. The ninr-year bar applies either to office under the BCCI or separately in State associations. The period as office bearer under the State shall not be counted towards the period as office bearer of the BCCI and vice versa. Therefore, technically one individual can be an office bearer at the State association for nine years and separately an office bearer/councillor at the BCCI for another nine years, subject of course to the cooling-off period after each term.

Not anymore a Jt. Secretary, Choudhary pointed out Faq. No. 8, but as a Lodha Commiitte official explained to Sportstar: "That has been superceded by the Supreme Court order of Jan. 3, 2017, which they are avoiding referring to. They refer only to the order of January 1, 2017."

Two junior national selectors Ashish Kapoor and Amit Sharma did not initially sign on the dotted line after selecting the India under-19 probables, but were urged to once they were told it would not be any contempt. They did so eventually.

Reliable sources said that the senior and junior selection committee members were persuaded, allegedly by some former BCCI officials, not to take part in the meeting. Clearly, efforts were made stall the selection committee meetings after the Cricket Club of India’s top management was asked to withdraw from all activities related to England’s tour matches on January 10 and 12.