The Supreme Court of India has ruled in the favor of BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah in order to extend their tenure at the cricket's apex body in the country. The SC in its ruling on Wednesday stated that it would allow all the office bearer in BCCI to hold office for two consecutive terms even if they were in office of the state association for one term.
The BCCI, in its proposed amendment had sought the abolition of a cooling-off period for its office bearer which would enable Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah to continue in office as the President and Secretary despite them having completed six years at respective state cricket associations. The apex court in its order observed that office bearers can have continuous tenure of 12 years which includes six years in State Association and six years in BCCI. Both Ganguly and Shah's three-year term in the BCCI was set to expire shortly.
Earlier, the SC-approved BCCI constitution had barred an office bearer who held any post for two consecutive terms either in a state association or in the BCCI, stating they shall not be eligible to contest any further election without completing a cooling period of three years. The bench also agreed to amend the 70-year age cap on BCCI's representative to the ICC that could make former BCCI president N Srinivasan hopeful of contest for the ICC after a break from the cricket administration role for more than seven years.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli heard the BCCI legal counsel Tushar Mehta, who is also a solicitor general of India, along with the amicus curiae Maninder Singh. The apex court also heard the Cricket Association of Bihar, the original litigant that had filed a petition against the BCCI following the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, which sparked the overhaul of the BCCI's constitution.