- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday (14) accepted the proposed changes in the constitution of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that will allow current president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to get an extension.
The board had urged for a modification of its constitution on its office bearers’ mandatory cooling-off period and tenure.
The top court said in its order that the office bearers can have a continuous tenure of 12 years — including six years each in state associations and the BCCI.
The three-year-term of both Ganguly and Shah was set to conclude shortly.
The Indian board had sought in its proposed amendment the abolition of a cooling-off period for its officials which would allow both Ganguly and Shah to continue as the president and secretary, respectively, despite having completed six years in their respective state cricket bodies.
On Tuesday (13) , solicitor general Tushar Mehta, while appearing for the BCCI, told a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli that the sport has been substantially streamlined in the country.
He said the BCCI is an autonomous body and all the changes have been considered by the body’s AGM.
While the submission was being made, the bench said “BCCI is an autonomous body. We cannot micro-manage its functioning.” Mehta said, “As the constitution exists today, there is a cooling off period. If I am an office bearer of the state cricket association for one term and BCCI for another consecutive term, then I have to go for a cooling off period.”
He said both bodies and their rules are different, and two consecutive tenures of the office bearer are inadequate to develop grassroots-level leadership.
