From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana on Wednesday sent to a 3-judge Bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud a plea of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) review its 2018 judgment and extend the current 6-year tenure of its president Saurav Ganguli and secretary Jay Shah as the administrators.
Justice Chandrachud is the only surviving judge that gave the 2018 ruling for the mandatory 3-year cooling off period of the administrators. Two others — then Chief Justice Dipak Misra and A M Khanwilkar — who pronounced it in August 2018 have since retired. The judgment was authored by Justice Chandrachud.
The decision to entertain the BCCI’s plea was taken by a Bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Hima Kohli and C T Ravikumar, in which a one-time waiver is sought in the BCCI constitution to permit both Ganguly and Jay Shah to continue in the posts without the mandatory cooling of period.
The BCCI had filed the petition nearly two years ago and on the last occasion on December 9, 2020, the court had said to hear it in January 2021 but it was not listed.
Saurav Ganguly before becoming BCCI president on October 23, 2019 was the president of Cricket Association of Bengal from 2015 till, he came to BCCI. Prior to becoming president of the Cricket Association of Bengal in 2015, Saurav Ganguly was Joint Secretary of the State cricketing association since July 2014. His six-year term as cricket administrator both in Bengal and at the national level ended on July 26, 2020.
Jay Shah became the joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) in September 2013. Shah stepped down as Joint Secretary, GCA in September 2019 and went on to become BCCI secretary in October 2019.
As per the BCCI constitution approved by the top court in 2018, both Ganguly and Shah should have proceeded for a cooling off period of three years after completing a continuous six year run as cricket administrators both in their respective States and in the BCCI.
In its judgment, the Court had then said: “It would be appropriate to direct that a cooling off period of three years would apply after an individual holds two successive terms innn office. Likewise, if an individual has held any post as an office-bearer of the BCCI for a total of six years in the BCCI or a state association
