‘Dada’giri Ends In BCCI?

Sourav Ganguly’s short stint as BCCI president has come to an end on Monday. Ganguly, who took over the reigns of BCCI in Oct 2019, has ended his 10-month tenure. Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah (son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah) had assumed charge as President and Secretary of BCCI respectively in Oct 2019 when the BCCI was managed by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).

While Ganguly and Jay Shah have filed plea seeking extension of their tenures to full three years, the Supreme Court has refused an immediate intervention in the matter. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the matter on August 17.

BCCI is already without a Vice President who had resigned four months ago. Jay Shah’s tenure as the Secretary too has ended. With No President, Vice President and Secretary, the Indian Cricket Board has become a ‘headless’ body. The moot question remains how will the Indian Cricket Board function for the next two weeks.

It can be noted that Justice Lodha Committee had reformed the Cricket Administration in the country and made a major recommendation of 3 year cooling-off period for administrators after six successive years in BCCI or any state Cricket Association or a combination of both.

Ganguly was the President of the Cricket association of Bengal from 2015 to Oct 2019. In Oct 2019, he became BCCI president. With this, Ganguly now has to undertake a three-year cooling off as per the Lodha Committee recommendations and the rule in the BCCI Constitution. BCCI has also appealed to the Apex Court to amend the rule of three-year cooling off period in the constitution and the matter is pending with the Supreme Court.