New Delhi: Team India is currently in England and is playing an ODI series there. Apart from the Indian team players, senior BCCI officials and former cricketers were also seen watching the match in England. An important incident related to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken place in the country. BCCI president Sourav Ganguli and secretary Jay Shah are about to complete their tenure on the board. BCCI has now filed an application in the Supreme Court in this matter. In which Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jai Shah have demanded to amend the rules to extend their tenure. The board says that the cooling off period of tenure of both should be extended.
Demand to extend the tenure of both till 2025
The BCCI has appealed to the Supreme Court to hear the plea filed by the board regarding the amendment of the rules as soon as possible. On this appeal Chief Justice N.V. Ramana has said that he will see if the matter can be heard next week. When Ganguly and Shah took over as president and secretary, only nine months were left in their six-year tenure at the state and national units. Meanwhile, the BCCI filed a petition in the Supreme Court on 21 April 2021 to extend the tenure of Shah and Ganguly. The board wants the tenure of both to be extended till 2025 i.e. by four years.
What does the law say?
As per the constitution, if an office-bearer has completed two terms of three years each in the BCCI or the state association, he has to take a mandatory break of three years. Currently former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is the BCCI President, Jay Shah as Secretary, Rajiv Shukla as Vice President, Arun Singh Dhumal as Treasurer and Jayesh George as Joint Secretary. As per the BCCI constitution approved by the Supreme Court CGI, the tenure of many of these office bearers has expired. But based on a petition filed in the Supreme Court in the year 2020, all of them are still in their positions.
It may be noted that Sourav Ganguly and Jai Shah took charge of the post of President and Secretary in October 2019. However, the tenure of both is three years, which will end in September 2022. The time is near but the further process has not been initiated by the BCCI, hence the board is seeking to extend the cooling off period.