‘Administrators flouted SC orders’

NEW DELHI: Sidelined office-bearers of the Indian cricket board fired the first salvo against the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Thursday with joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary filing a petition in the Supreme Court which contended that the panel has flouted the court’s directions.

Chaudhary, in his plea, has said the CoA sent its member, Vikram Limaye, and BCCI chief executive, Rahul Johri, to the International Cricket Council’s meeting earlier this month.

This flouted the Apex court’s directive on January 30 that Chaudhary and treasurer, Anirudh Choudhary, should attend along with Limaye, he said. Instead, Johri wrote to the world body, on directions from the CoA, that he and Limaye would attend the meet.

The petition said it was highlighting ‘the dichotomy the present arrangement has brought into the game of cricket in India’.

The court had directed the senior vice-president and joint secretary, standing in for the ousted secretary, to supervise the BCCI’s functioning and the panel was only supposed to oversee the transition of the Board’s administration, but the CoA has taken over the running of the sports body’s affairs.

“Act and conduct of the committee runs contrary to the fabric of the orders passed by this court,” the petition said, arguing that it undermined the authority of the BCCI office-bearers.