Tamil Nadu Cricket Association allowed to hold elections by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has allowed Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) to hold elections for office bearers, but the results will be subject to its decision.

A Supreme Court bench comprising justices S. A. Bode and L. Nageswara Rao said TNCA can hold elections but the results will be subject to the court's decision.

The Supreme Court, on Friday, allowed the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) to conduct elections even as the Committee of Administrators (CoA) for the BCCI complained that the association is unwilling to comply with or ratify the terms of the new BCCI Constitution as ordered by the apex court.

“They can do whatever they want to... point is they are indeed holding elections. We can undo the results (of the polls) or even send it to the civil court,” Justice S.A. Bobde, heading the Bench comprising L. Nageswara Rao, orally observed.

Later, the court permitted the TNCA, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, to conduct the elections. It added that the result of the polls would be “subject to the order passed by the court” in the pending applications.

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CoA’s contention

The CoA, represented by senior advocate Parag Tripathi, complained to the Bench that TNCA has “consistently refused to abide by the Supreme Court order (of August 9, 2018 which finalised the new BCCI Constitution). They have consistently said ‘we will go our way’”.

Amicus curiae and senior advocate P.S. Narasimha submitted that only three member associations have not complied with the new Constitution, TNCA is one of them. “They must comply with the Constitution,” Mr. Narasimha stressed.

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Justice Bobde, in the order, recorded that all member associations should comply and register their respective constitutions in accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court judgement of August 9, 2018.

The Bench ordered all the member associations to comply with the BCCI Constitution. The court further noted that the disqualifications laid down in Clause 14 of the new BCCI Constitution would be confined to office-bearers alone.

Notice period

The court allowed the 21-day notice period for holding elections to be “relaxed” on the discretion of the amicus curiae. In this regard, the Registrar of Co-operative Societies would comply with the instructions of the amicus curiae.

On August 8 last year, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had finalised the new Constitution for Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) while rejecting the ‘one-State one-vote’ recommendation of Justice R.M. Lodha Committee and altering the cooling-off period for cricket bosses.

Amicus curiae P.S. Narasimha submitted that only three member associations have not complied with the new Constitution, and TNCA is one of them.