Supreme Court Order Paves Way For Sourav Ganguly And Jay Shah To Remain In BCCI Posts Till 2025

In its petition, the BCCI has sought the abolition of a cooling-off period for its office bearers.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the BCCI to amend its Constitution pertaining to cooling-off period for its office bearers, clearing the way for extension of the terms of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah till 2025. Both Ganguly and Shah's first terms in the cricket board were set to expire due to the "cooling-off period" clause in the BCCI constitution.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said office bearers could have a continuous tenure of 12 years, which includes six years in State Association and six years in BCCI before the cooling-off period of three years comes into play, PTI reported.

"We are of the considered view that the amendment would not dilute the original objective. We accept the proposed amendment," the court said.

The apex court said that an office bearer could serve on a particular post for two consecutive terms, both at the BCCI and the State Association level, after which there would be a cooling-off period of three years.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court obsevbed that BCCI was an autonomous body and it cannot micro-manage its functioning

In its petition, the BCCI had sought the abolition of a cooling-off period for its office bearers. This would enable Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah to continue as BCCI president and secretary respectively despite them having completed six years at respective state cricket associations.

Ganguly became the secretary of the Cricket Board of Bengal in 2014. Jay Shah also became the secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Board in the same year. Accordingly, from 2020 onwards, both had become ineligible for posts in BCCI.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the BCCI, had told the court that as per earlier orders, the constitution could only be amended with the leave of the court, and hence the cricket body moved an application in this regard.

The original petitioner in the case, Aditya Verma, has said that a lot of irregularities were taking place in Bihar Cricket Association and its constitution was being changed without the leave of the court.

Earlier, the Justice R M Lodha-led committee had recommended reforms in the BCCI, which have been accepted by the top court.

The constitution of the BCCI stipulates a mandatory three-year cooling-off period for anyone who had served two consecutive terms of three years each in the state cricket association or the BCCI.