The BCCI has until January 27 to give the Supreme Court a list of candidates who could form the committee of administrators meant to oversee its operations © Cricket Australia
The Supreme Court has put on hold for at least a week the appointment of a committee of administrators which it said would supervise the BCCI until the board amended its constitution as per the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.
The court has now sought a fresh list of candidates from the BCCI, as well as from state cricket associations run by the federal government, which stepped into the long-standing case for the first time last week. The new names will have to be submitted in a sealed envelope by January 27. The court has convened the next hearing of the matter on January 30.
On January 2, after removing the BCCI president Anurag Thakur and board secretary Ajay Shirke, the court had said a committee of administrators would take charge of the BCCI until fresh elections are held. On January 20, nine names were suggested by amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium and senior counsel Anil Divan in a sealed envelope.
At that hearing, the three-judge bench was curious over why there were a few people over the age of 70 on that list. The Lodha Committee had placed a cap of 70 for administrators as one of its recommendations which the court had approved in its primary judgement on July 18 last year. On Tuesday, the court made it clear it would not consider any 70-year-olds among the names suggested by Subramanium and Divan.
The court also rejected a request from Mukul Rohatgi, the attorney general of India, who asked the order appointing the committee of administrators be delayed by two weeks. Rohatgi told the court that the Indian government was considering formulating a new bill that would provide more autonomy to sports associations.
Rohatgi’s original request was for the July 18 order, which made made the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations mandatory across the BCCI, to be reviewed but the court said, “once we pen an order, it is clear as day that it will be implemented.”
With additional reporting from Jonathan Selvaraj
Nagraj Gollapudi is a senior assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo