Supreme Court allows amendment of BCCI constitution, Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah eligible to stay at office till 2025

In a big relief for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah, the Supreme Court on September 14 (Wednesday) allowed for the relaxation of the cooling-off clause and for other amendments in the board's constitution.

As per Lodha Committee recommendations, the officials were required to vacate the office and undergo a mandatory three-year cooling-off period after completing two consecutive terms at the BCCI or a State Association, or a combination of both.

In 2020, the top board had filed a plea in the apex court seeking the relaxation of the cooling-off period, pleading that the norm should apply if a person serves two consecutive terms at the BCCI or State Association alone, and not in case of a combination of both.

Meanwhile, apart from the president and secretary, joint secretary Jayesh George has already served six years in the state association and the cricket board combined. However, with the Apex Court ruling the decision in BCCI's favour, both Jay Shah and Sourav Ganguly will enable them to continue to hold their top positions at the board. 

A two-judge bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli, said, "The submission that the application of cooling off to an individual who has undergone one term at each level (at state unit and BCCI) is stringent," and added, "keeping the reason for which cooling off period was introduced, we are of the considered view that the amendment would not dilute the original objective. We, therefore, accept the proposed amendment."

With the new rules in place, an official can now hold a BCCI or state position for a total of 12 years without taking any break which was not the case after the passing of the original order of 2016 which imposed a forced break after each term, that is after every three years.