Mumbai loses full member status as CoA revamps Board constitution

Indian cricket powerhouse Mumbai will no longer be a permanent full member of BCCI, according to the Indian cricket board’s new constitution.

The Committee of Administrators, appointed by the Supreme Court to carry out the reforms suggested by the Justice Lodha panel, finalised the new constitution which states that membership for multiple associations in a single state would rotate on an annual basis.

The new constitution, while observing the one-state-one-vote rule, stipulates that only 30 associations will function as controlling bodies for domestic cricket in their respective states. These bodies will be full members and have voting rights. Maharashtra and Gujarat were included in the list of full members which means that the cricket associations of Mumbai, Vidarbha, Saurashtra and Baroda —previously functioning as Full Members — will now be considered associate members till their turn comes next. The altered constitution, uploaded on the BCCI website, says: “Each state shall be represented by a state cricket association duly recognized by the BCCI and such associations shall be full members. No state shall have more than one full member at any given point of time.”

It goes on to say: “In states with multiple existing members, the full membership shall rotate annually among such existing members such that only one of them will exercise the rights and privileges of a full member at any given point of time. The rotation shall be as per the policy framed by the BCCI.” The new list of full members also includes Bihar, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya. None of them were Full Members in the past. Vidarbha, Saurashtra and Baroda, founding members Cricket Club of India and National Cricket Club also miss out on full members’ list. Government institutes like Railways, Services and Universities are also absent.