To Stay or Not Stay: The Curious Case of BCCI Leadership

What’s the story?

The IPL 2013 spot-fixing incident shook the cricket world but it paved the way for path-breaking reforms in cricket administration in India. The Supreme Court constituted a committee, led by Justice (retd.) RM Lodha, which recommended a slew of reforms in practices and procedures of the BCCI. The recommendations in the report were ratified by the Supreme Court to ultimately result in the enactment of a new BCCI Constitution.

One of the recommendations of the Lodha Committee related to the Cooling-off period for office-bearers of the BCCI.

What is the cooling off period? 

It is essentially a mandatory break of three years which an office-bearer has to undergo after serving two consecutive terms in office, either with the BCCI or state associations or both. The principle behind the provision, which even the Supreme Court agreed with, was to avoid concentration of power with a few limited groups of people and prevent persons with vested interests from occupying administrative positions. 

This particular provision has been codified as clause 6.4 in the newly enacted BCCI Constitution.

Clause 6.4

“An office-bearer who has held any post for two consecutive terms either in a state association or in the BCCI (or in a combination of both) shall not be eligible to contest any further election without completing a cooling-off period of three years. During the cooling off period, such an office bearer shall not be a member of the governing council or of any committee whatsoever of the BCCI or of a state association.”

The Conflict

BCCI elected new office-bearers in October 2019 after the enactment of the new BCCI Constitution. Sourav Ganguly was elected as the President while Jay Shah and Jayesh George were elected as the Secretary and Joint Secretary respectively.

Ganguly and Shah have been holding various administrative positions since 2014 in the Cricket Association of Bengal and Gujarat Cricket Association, respectively. George, too, has been an office bearer in Kerala Cricket Association for 5 years, before he was elected to the BCCI. While Shah’s tenure at the BCCI ended in May 2020, Ganguly finished his tenure in July 2020 and George was supposed to go into cooling-off in September 2020.

Picture Source: Getty Images

At the time of their appointment, BCCI was well aware of their limited tenures owing to the cooling-off provision. Effectively after their appointment, BCCI amended Clause 6.4 of the constitution to treat the term of office bearers at the BCCI and state associations separately and not together before the cooling period kicks in. This particular amendment, however, required approval from the Supreme Court before it could be implemented.

The Road Ahead

A petition in this regard was filed in the apex court claiming that it’s in the national interest to allow for the current office bearers to continue while amending the cooling-off clause in the constitution. The issue was ultimately settled through a decision of the the Supreme Court that allowed the amendment to provide relaxations in the mandatory cooling off period.

Now, the cooling-off period of 3 years shall start only after two consecutive terms, either at the State Association or at the BCCI. Also, the mandatory cooling-off period shall apply separately at the State and National level, meaning that a person who has held a position in any office with the state association for two consecutive terms is eligible to be an office-bearer at the BCCI without going into cooling-off. This decision opens the door for the current BCCI leadership to serve another tenure in the office before they go into cooling-off.

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