BCCI matter to be referred to Justice DY Chandrachud-led bench

The Supreme Court of India stated on Wednesday that the matters related to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including the amendment of its constitution, would be heard by a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, who was part of the earlier judgment of August 9, 2018.

The hearing is regarding the plea of BCCI, which seeks to amend its constitution pertaining to the tenure of the office bearers of the board, including BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah. The plea was made to do away with the mandatory cooling-off period between consecutive tenures in the office across state cricket associations and the BCCI.

During the proceedings on the plea on Wednesday, the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, referred the case to Justice Chandrachud, who was part of the bench which passed the 2018 order. The earlier order was passed by a bench headed by CJI Dipak Mishra along with Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Chandrachud; the former two have since retired.

“I will be constituting a three-judge bench to hear this led by Justice DY Chandrachud,” the CJI, who headed a three-member bench, including Justices Hima Kohli and CT Ravikumar, observed on Wednesday.

The constitution of BCCI, which has been approved by the top court, after a recommendation from the Justice RM Lodha-led committee, stipulates that any office bearer who had served two consecutive terms of three years each, either in the state cricket association or the BCCI, will have to undergo a mandatory three-year cooling-off period before holding any position in the office again.

Notably, the BCCI has pleaded for the abolishment of the cooling-off period and delink the terms at the state associations from the constitution in its latest proposal, which would allow Ganguly and Shah to continue with their office roles despite them having completed six consecutive years at their state associations and BCCI combined. While Ganguly held a post in the office of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Shah had served in the Gujarat Cricket Association before taking up BCCI duties.