Constitutional Crisis Looms Over BCCI As SC Declines Immediate Hearing

The SC refused to give an immediate hearing thus forcing the BCCI to be a headless body from July 27.

Photo: AFP

New Delhi: The BCCI on Wednesday stared directly into a temporary constitutional crisis even as it readies itself to stage the IPL in the UAE.  The SC refused to give an immediate hearing thus forcing the BCCI to be a headless body from July 27 when BCCI president Sourav Ganguly goes into a mandated cooling-off period that is being challenged in the apex court. CJI-led Bench agreed to hear after two weeks BCCI application to modify its Constitution to primarily enable president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to continue to hold on to their posts instead of serving the mandatory cooling-off period. BCCI secretary Jay Shah's tenure has also ended while vice president post is also lying vacant for the last three months. Meanwhile, Jharkhand member Naresh Makhani moved a plea asking Justice L Nageshwar Rao to recuse himself from the Bcci matter hearing citing a conflict of interest. Justice Rao along with CJI was the bench scheduled to hear the matter today. Justice L Nageshwar Rao was part of the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee that investigated Meiyyapan, Srinivasan, CSK and came up with the sealed envelope. It will interesting to note if that application played its part and whether Justice Nageshwar Rao will recuse himself when the matter is listed again in two weeks.