SC may review two clauses of cricket reforms

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it could review two contentious provisions of the RM Lodha Committee report on reforming the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) even as it reserved its order finalising the Indian cricket board’s draft constitution.

The finalisation of the constitution is expected to end the chaos in Indian cricket’s administration and also end the ongoing tussle between the apex court appointed Committee of Administrators and the board.

The final order is expected in two weeks.

The two contentious clauses are the so-called one-state, onevote norm and another on a cooling off period for office bearers of BCCI before they contest another election of the board. Two states, Maharashtra and Gujarat, have multiple votes: Mumbai, the Cricket Club of India, Vidarbha and Maharashtra (four votes) in the case of the first, and Gujarat, Saurashtra, and Baroda (three) in the case of the second. This means the two states get more share of BCCI money that is doled out to the members, and also have more say (votes).

Both recommendations of the Lodha committee were opposed by BCCI and Thursday’s observations by the apex court come as a boost to it. NEWDELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University appeals’ committee has upheld the fine of ~10,000 imposed on former students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and rustication of Umar Khalid for one semester in connection with an event on campus two years ago where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar formed a four-member panel in June 2016 to hear appeals of students found guilty of indiscipline by a high-level enquiry committee (HLEC) in connection with February 9, 2016 event against the hanging of the 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. There were allegations that anti-national slogans were raised at the event.

Kumar, Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested and later released on bail in a sedition case. As many as 21 JNU students were slapped with punishment ranging from rustication and hostel debarment to financial penalties on the basis of the probe by the HLEC, which found them guilty of breach of discipline.