BENGALURU: The BCCI Ombudsman has ruled that Santosh Menon, the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), is not entitled to continue in office. He declared the post in a vacant in an order issued on Thursday (a copy of the order is with this daily).
In a landmark ruling that may have ramifications elsewhere, the Ombudsman, Justice Arun Mishra (Retd.), judged that Menon had already finished his nine-year tenure under existing guidelines. The original complaint was filed by Dolphin Cricketers, a KSCA institutional member. They had argued that Menon only had nine days remaining before completing his tenure on the day he was elected as secretary of the KSCA.
Mishra accepted this line of thinking that the tenure limit had to be counted cumulatively. "The office bearer is also a member of the Managing Committee or Apex Council," the order said. "As such, it is apparent that his tenure has to be cumulated for holding the post of Managing Committee as ‘office bearer’ or as ‘Managing Committee member’, otherwise the entire purpose of the nine-year cap each for BCCI and State association would stand diluted."
In response to this, the KSCA, via a press release, said they were examining the judgment. "Appropriate legal advice is being sought to evaluate all remedies and options available under law,” their statement, signed by Venkatesh Prasad, president of the KSCA, said.
