NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for the continuation of the term of office of its President Saurav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah as it allowed BCCI to tweak the clause in its Constitution.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli accepted BCCI’s plea to waive the cooling-off period for office bearers who have completed 1 term (3 years) in state association & 1 term (3 years) in BCCI.
SC also said that the cooling-off period would come only after 2 consecutive terms in office which means that an office bearer be in office for a term of 6 years in State Association & then for 6 years in BCCI in one go. The cooling-off period would apply for 3 years thereafter.
“We are of view that proposed amendment would not dilute the object of cooling off period with the result that cooling off will come to effect once a candidate has completed 2 consecutive terms in BCCI & state association,” the court said in its order.
As per BCCI’s existing Constitution, the term for all office bearers in BCCI and state associations would be three years and there would be a cooling-off period for three years after an individual holding the post of an office bearer for two consecutive terms either in state association or in the BCCI or a combination of both.
In the proposed amendment, BCCI sought the abolition of the cooling-off period for its office bearers like the Secretary Jay Shah and President Sourav Ganguly to enable them continue despite completing six years.
Yesterday, while laying emphasis on the fact that the idea behind inclusion of “cooling off” was to ensure that vested interests are not allowed to grow, the SC had suggested for waiving the cooling off period with regards to the office bearers who serve consecutive terms (3 years each) in state association and thereafter in BCCI.
“A 12 years period without cooling off is too long. What we can say is cooling off period kicks in after 2 terms and what we’re suggesting is if you’ve held one term in state association and one term in BCCI, then cooling off doesn’t kick in. But if you hold 2 terms in state association or in BCCI then the cooling-off period kicks in. Earlier problem was even if you did 1 three year term you had to cool off. That was too stringent, because you need time to make networks, and understand this is our suggestion. This will serve the interest of justice,” Justice Chandrachud said while hearing BCCI’s plea seeking amendment of its Constitution with regards to the tenure of Jay Shah and Saurav Ganguly.
SC bench comprising the then CJI Dipak Mishra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud in 2018 after accepting the recommendations made by Justice RM Lodha led Committee had approved the draft Constitution of BCCI. The Court had also directed that a person would hold the position for an office bearer in any state Association regardless of the post, for a period in excess of nine years in the aggregate. Bench had asked the parties to not make any amendment without the court's leave. BCCI by incorporating the principles laid down by Justice RM Lodha-led Committee had drawn up its Constitution wherein they had included the provision pertaining to cooling off.