Cricket News: Will Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah continue for another term in the BCCI? | Details on whether Ganguly and Shah will continue in the BCCI

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) of India has relaxed the cooling-off period of the constitution of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). This has paved the way for incumbent administrators including president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to stand for re-election this month.

Now onwards, an individual will be eligible to hold office for two terms at one place, i.e. the state association or the BCCI. The clause that required an office-bearer to go on a cooling-off period after serving consecutive terms in either of these associations has been removed.

Ganguly and Shah stand for re-election under new rules

Both Ganguly and Shah would have been disqualified under the earlier rules. However, they now have the nod to acquire an additional term at the BCCI as per the latest judgment, the details of which haven’t been published yet.

The BCCI had moved to the SC against the re-drafted constitution by arguing that the cooling-off period was acting as a major blow in selecting talented and experienced hands for the job. The board wanted the cooling-off period to come into effect at the end of two terms for the top two posts. On the other hand, they have demanded for the three-year break to be applied at the end of three consecutive terms for the remaining three office-bearers, i.e. treasurer, vice-president and joint-secretary. 

“Existing position is by using the word combination, even if you have done one term in state and one term in BCCI then you are out. But what we are proposing is that if you have done six years at the state level then you are subject to a three-year cooling-off period (at state). If you have not done six years at the same level then you are not subject to a cooling-off period,” Justice DY Chandrachud’s comments during the hearing was quoted in a report by ESPNCricinfo. 

He added, “Second, we are giving a more liberal thing: you can do six in the state, you can then immediately do six in the BCCI because they are two different levels. But after completing two consecutive terms at two different levels then take a break of three years.”

The court explained that the cooling-off clause was intended to do away with the formation of any clique that gave rise to undesirable elements for undesirable purposes. SC said that it was regulating affairs as an autonomous body and hence it was necessary to give the BCCI sufficient freedom as long as they were not defeating the purpose of the judgment. 

The official judgment on this matter has not been made public yet but it could result in sweeping changes to the recommendations of the Justice RM Lodha Committee that were reflected in the redrafted constitution of the BCCI in 2018. The board was initially supposed to hold fresh elections later this month but they ended up delaying the timeline in order to wait for the SC judgment on their aforementioned plea.