Calcutta: Another chapter has been added to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) versus Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials battle when the Supreme Court-appointed committee submitted its seventh status report.  

The CoA has sought the removal of the BCCI officials in the status report, citing the end of their tenures as per the Board’s constitution.

 

The Vinod Rai-led  committee has also urged the Supreme Court to order fresh elections for the BCCI immediately so that administrators who are “consciously guilty of non-compliance” will not “benefit” by continuing in their posts. 

 

The terms of the current set of three office-bearers — acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry — ended on March 1, the CoA reminded the apex court and added that they should be replaced with immediately.   

 

Removal of IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla has also been recommended, stating that he has also outlived his tenure.  

The CoA asked for the Supreme Court’s direction on having an AGM without formal adoption of the new constitution. 

The relations between the CoA and the office-bearers were already at a low; with this status report, it is set to plunge even deeper.  

 

Khanna, Choudhary and Chaudhry were appointed as part of the BCCI administration on March 2, 2015. As per the existing BCCI constitution, the tenure of an office-bearer is three years. Accordingly, the CoA has told the court that their tenures ended on March 1 this year.

 

“These interim directions are necessarily required so that the persons who are consciously guilty of non-compliance of the recommendations passed by the Hon’ble Justice Lodha Committee, as well as the orders passed by this Hon’ble Court, are disabled from benefiting from their conscious non-compliance and, in particular, do not get the benefit of an extended tenure because of such non-compliance,” the CoA said in the latest status report.

 

While the SC-appointed committee has constantly accused the office-bearers of delaying implementation of Lodha Reforms, the latter feel that Rai and Co. have overstepped the brief given to them as per Apex Court’s verdict.

 

The CoA in its report cited Rule 15 (i) of existing BCCI constitution which states: “The election of office-bearers and vice-presidents shall be held at the AGM of the Board every year. The office-bearers and vice president so elected will hold office for three years.”

 

The CoA then gave the full list of office bearers elected during its 85th AGM in Chennai in March, 2015 where Jagmohan Dalmiya was elected as the president.

 

The CoA wrote, “In our respectful understanding the aforesaid order dated January 2, 2017 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court does not deal with issue of tenure of office-bearers. The said order provides that i) the senior most vice-president shall perform duties of president. ii) joint secretary shall perform duties of secretary. iii) other office-bearers shall continue, all subject to conditions stipulated therein. Accordingly, if the respective terms of senior-most vice-president and joint secretary have expired, they cannot continue to perform their duties of the president and secretary respectively.”