State units to file curative petitions

Mumbai: THE 23 state units who met behind closed doors at a posh Bengaluru hotel on Saturday evening handed former BCCI president N Srinivasan full power to draw a roadmap for them. They also decidedtoformsmallgroupsandfilecurative petitions in the Supreme Court to get clarity over why the apex court modified certain vital sub-clauses in its January 2 order.

The sub-clause related to the alteration that was made in the order with regards to the maximum duration of a cricket administrator’s tenure. While it earlier read, “A person shall be disqualified from being an Office Bearer if he or she has been an Office Bearer of the BCCI for a cumulative period of 9 years.” On Tuesday, the Supreme Court made a modification and the second half now reads, “Has been an Office Bearer of the BCCI or a State Association for a cumulative period of 9 years.”

There was confusion among the members whether completing nine years as an officer-bearer of a state association immediately disqualified them from being an office bearer of the BCCI. The misunderstanding, especially concerning the eligibility of Amitabh Choudhary, even ended up delaying the Indian team’s selection meeting on Friday by a few hours.

“Although Amitabh Choudhary has completed nine years as an office bearer of a State Association, he has not completed nine years as an office bearer of BCCI,” CEO Rahul Johri had written to the Lodha committee while asking for their permission to go ahead with the meeting.

It took a clarification from Lodha committee secretary Gopal Sankarnarayanan to clear the air as he wrote back saying, “It is clarified that Chaudhary stands disqualified and is no longer the joint secretary of the BCCI or an office bearer of the BCCI or a State Association by virtue of the orders of the Supreme Court dated 2.1.2017 and 3.1.2017.”

Already in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s January 2 order, the BCCI is left with no office-bearers. And the functioning of the board is presently being handled by CEO Rahul Johri. But the modification in the sub-clause that deals with eligibility of board officials, will pretty much leave even the offices of the various state associations empty with most of their members having held their posts for well over the stipulated nine years.

There was a consensus among members, who attended Saturday’s meeting, on waiting for the SC to appoint the new committee on January 19. That time would be spent filing the various pleas in the SC. DEVENDRA PANDEY