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Confusion on eve of crucial SGM
Tuesday 25 July 2017

Confusion on eve of crucial SGM
BCCI is taking legal advice to determine Justice (retd) Vikramajit Sen’s eligibility 
Justice (retd) Vikramajit Sen’s possible participation in the BCCI Special General Meeting (SGM) in Delhi on Wednesday has created confusion within the cricket board. The BCCI is taking legal advice to determine his eligibility. Justice Sen, the high court-appointed administrator of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has been nominated by the state body to attend the meeting.
“We have received a communication from the DDCA that Justice Sen would be its representative at the general body. The express order of the Supreme Court, however, says only office-bearers are allowed to attend tomorrow’s SGM. It’s a complicated issue and we are taking advice from our legal panel to decide his eligibility,” a BCCI official told The Indian Express.
The Supreme Court order on Monday said: “The meeting shall be attended only by the Office Bearers of the Associations, not by nominees or representatives.” Given that office-bearers are elected members of the associations, the BCCI will have to decide if a court-appointed administrator can qualify as an office-bearer.
The BCCI general body, meanwhile, will deliberate on the adoption of the new constitution as recommended by the Lodha Committee and accepted by the apex court in it July 18, 2016 order.
The members, however, have some leverage as a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra and also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, yesterday said the recommendations shall be implemented “as far as practicable, barring the issues which have been raised pertaining to membership, number of members of the selection committee, concept of associate membership, etc.”
According to a source, partial adoption of the new constitution appears on the cards along the lines of the cricket board’s October 1, 2016 SGM that had deliberated upon each and every point of the Lodha reforms and agreed to accept the majority of the recommendations. 
A special committee of the BCCI, in fact, has narrowed down the difficulties to four — one state-one vote, three-member selection committee, cooling off period for office-bearers and powers given to the function of professional and officials.
“The next Supreme Court hearing is on August 18, and now that the Hon’ble court is willing to reconsider some of the clauses in the Lodha reforms, we must show intent and go ahead with adopting the majority of the reforms. It would send the right signal to the Committee of Administrators (COA) and the court,” a state association office-bearer said.
The COA is also looking at Wednesday’s meeting with optimism, especially after the Supreme Court order of restraining N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah from attending it. The COA status report described the two veteran administrators as “impediments” towards implementing the reforms.
“We are upbeat now that the SGM will take a decision about adopting the new constitution and that is what we had been saying all along. All the meetings I had earlier (with the members), I said ‘please accept the constitution. If you have one or two practical difficulties, go ahead and point that out and place it before the court’. That’s exactly what the court has also said,” COA chairman Vinod Rai told this paper, adding that the absence of Srinivasan and Shah might work to the advantage of the members who are in favour of adopting the constitution save a few issues with practical difficulties.
Formal adoption of the new BCCI conflict of interest rules, appointment of ombudsman and adoption of the new funds disbursement policy are also items on the agenda.

Justice (retd) Vikramajit Sen’s possible participation in the BCCI Special General Meeting (SGM) in Delhi on Wednesday has created confusion within the cricket board. The BCCI is taking legal advice to determine his eligibility. Justice Sen, the high court-appointed administrator of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has been nominated by the state body to attend the meeting.

“We have received a communication from the DDCA that Justice Sen would be its representative at the general body. The express order of the Supreme Court, however, says only office-bearers are allowed to attend tomorrow’s SGM. It’s a complicated issue and we are taking advice from our legal panel to decide his eligibility,” a BCCI official told The Indian Express.

The Supreme Court order on Monday said: “The meeting shall be attended only by the Office Bearers of the Associations, not by nominees or representatives.” Given that office-bearers are elected members of the associations, the BCCI will have to decide if a court-appointed administrator can qualify as an office-bearer.The BCCI general body, meanwhile, will deliberate on the adoption of the new constitution as recommended by the Lodha Committee and accepted by the apex court in it July 18, 2016 order.

The members, however, have some leverage as a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra and also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, yesterday said the recommendations shall be implemented “as far as practicable, barring the issues which have been raised pertaining to membership, number of members of the selection committee, concept of associate membership, etc.”

According to a source, partial adoption of the new constitution appears on the cards along the lines of the cricket board’s October 1, 2016 SGM that had deliberated upon each and every point of the Lodha reforms and agreed to accept the majority of the recommendations. 

A special committee of the BCCI, in fact, has narrowed down the difficulties to four — one state-one vote, three-member selection committee, cooling off period for office-bearers and powers given to the function of professional and officials.

“The next Supreme Court hearing is on August 18, and now that the Hon’ble court is willing to reconsider some of the clauses in the Lodha reforms, we must show intent and go ahead with adopting the majority of the reforms. It would send the right signal to the Committee of Administrators (COA) and the court,” a state association office-bearer said.

The COA is also looking at Wednesday’s meeting with optimism, especially after the Supreme Court order of restraining N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah from attending it. The COA status report described the two veteran administrators as “impediments” towards implementing the reforms.

“We are upbeat now that the SGM will take a decision about adopting the new constitution and that is what we had been saying all along. All the meetings I had earlier (with the members), I said ‘please accept the constitution. If you have one or two practical difficulties, go ahead and point that out and place it before the court’. That’s exactly what the court has also said,” COA chairman Vinod Rai told this paper, adding that the absence of Srinivasan and Shah might work to the advantage of the members who are in favour of adopting the constitution save a few issues with practical difficulties.

Formal adoption of the new BCCI conflict of interest rules, appointment of ombudsman and adoption of the new funds disbursement policy are also items on the agenda.

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)

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