Supreme Court begins hearing BCCI's plea to amend constitution, Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah's future in focus

The Supreme Court of India has begun hearing the Board of the Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) plea to make some reforms to its constitution on Tuesday (September 13). This could bring some significant reforms to the recommendations set by the Court in 2018. The court will resume the hearing on Wednesday but there is no official update on whether it will pass any judgment on the same day.

BCCI first made an appeal to make some changes to the constitutions, set by the RM Lodha committee and approved by the court in 2018, only 18 months after the decision. The board approached again in April 2020 and has been pressing the matter lately due to the upcoming elections scheduled later this month. 

The current constitution states that office-bearers have to go on for a three-year cooling-off period for two consecutive periods either at the state association or at BCCI or at both. After that, a person is not eligible to contest at both state or BCCI. And right now all five office-bearers, including president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah have completed their six-year cooling-off period, having joined BCCI in October 2019.

For what reforms BCCI has appealed?

The biggest reform Ganguly administration is seeking is contesting a cooling-off period. They want the cooling-off period to come into the effect only after the office-bearer had been at his/her post for six consecutive years either at State or BCCI, not a combination of both. The another big reform they are seeking is preventing the court from having a say if the BCCI wants to alter its constitution in the future. BCCI is also looking to alter the constitution regarding the disqualification criteria for holding office (which states that a person linked with a political party can't contest).

Before joining BCCI in 2019, Ganguly held the post of secretary at the Cricket Association of Bengal in 2014 and a president's post in 2015. Jay Shah also held a joint secretary post in the Gujarat Cricket Association. BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla has also completed his six-year term at the office and is also a Member of Parliament, which prevents him from contesting in the upcoming elections.

Subramaniam Swamy, a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) filed a petition in the court contesting the BCCI Plea. He previously stated that the current BCCI administration is aiming at negating and destroying the cooling-off period which will result in a monopoly of power in the hand of few individuals.