Historian Ramachandra Guha, one of the four members of the Committee of Administrators appointed by the Supreme Court to run the BCCI, informed a Vacation Bench of Justices M.M. Shantanagoudar and Deepak Gupta that he has resigned from his post and has discussed the issue with the committee's chairperson and former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai.
Guha, represented by a counsel, cited personal reasons for leaving the committee and wanted to hand over the resignation report to the court. The Bench however asked Guha to file his plea in the registry and posted the case for hearing on July 14, after the court re-opens post summer vacations. The matter will then come before the Special Bench hearing the BCCI case comprising Justices Dipak Misra, A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud.
The committee, also comprising legendary Test cricketer Diana Edulji and IDFC MD and CEO Vikram Limaye, was appointed on January 30 this year to ensure transparency in the administration of the embattled Board, which had witnessed the ousting of its then president Anurag Thakur for his inability to comply with the Justice Lodha panel reforms and for allegedly committing perjury with the Supreme Court.
The committee was meant to function as the new interim bosses of the BCCI and run the day-to-day administration of the cricket body till the Lodha reforms are fully implemented and elections are held.
A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra had avoided the "dark mazes" and pleas for fresh hearings thrown at it by the BCCI, its State members and non-State actors to take the step forward in the direction laid out by the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee recommendations.
The BCCI CEO, who was in the driver's seat since the Supreme Court ousted former BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke in a January 2 order for stalling Lodha reforms, was asked to report to the Committee then.
"Let the Committee of Administrators find out how many directions of the Lodha Committee has already been complied with, what were the impediments and report to us. Then we will see," Justice Misra had observed.
The Bench said the scrutiny would help in the "smooth implementation" of the Lodha panel reforms.
The Supreme Court, at the time of the appointment of the Committee, had emphasised that it wanted experts from various fields and not just cricket to be in the Committee. When BCCI tried to say that the Committee should work pro bono, the court had refused and said they need to be paid for their job.
"We want a professional set of administrators," Justice Chandrachud made the Supreme Court's objective clear.
The Bench had advised the BCCI to come up with a "proposition of a respectable amount" for the Supreme Court to consider as payment to the new administrators for services they would render. The court had also brushed aside objections from the Board that the Committee of Administrators would "disturb the electoral college of the BCCI and change the fabric of the organisation".
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