The MCA is also free to enter into any IPL-related agreements with the Mumbai Indians franchise for the upcoming season. (Source: File)
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday appointed retired Supreme Court judge Hemant Gokhale and retired Bombay High Court judge V M Kanade as administrators for the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). It’ll now be the two administrators’ responsibility to ensure that the MCA adopts the Lodha committee recommendations in its entirety and accordingly calls for fresh elections.
The bench comprising Justice Shantanu Kemkar and Justice MS Karnik also said that Gokhale and Kanade can take the assistance of a few non-disqualified members to run the affairs of the association. The MCA is also free to enter into any IPL-related agreements with the Mumbai Indians franchise for the upcoming season.
MCA’s counsel, Rafique Dada, had proposed the names of two former MCA office-bearers, Ratnakar Shetty and Ravi Savant, to assist the administrators in their task of implementing the Lodha recommendations. The High Court though left those appointments to Gokhale and Kanade.
“We are ordering for the appointment of administrators. While this does not impose a stay on any important pending functions of the MCA, let the administrators take charge, go through your books, and then decide on the meeting,” the bench said. The MCA, under its previous administration, had called for a special general body meeting on April 16 and the court felt that it will now be up to the newly-appointed administrators to stick to that schedule or to decide upon new dates to change the MCA’s constitution according to the Lodha recommendations.
The bench, meanwhile, also ruled that the sale and distribution of IPL tickets will be managed solely by the administrators and that the names should be disclosed on the association’s website.
The BCCI had suggested that the Bombay High Court follow the model adopted by the Delhi High Court and the Andhra Pradesh High Court by appointing administrators to run the cricket associations that come under their purview.
Meanwhile, the MCA which till Tuesday comprised of six office bearers and 11 managing committee members will be left with just a five-member committee with incumbent president BJP’s Mumbai president Ashish Shelar and joint secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar the only office bearers set to continue till fresh elections are held.
Bidding war continues
The media rights for India’s bilateral series at home for the next five year cycle (2018-2023) is slowly nearing the billion dollar mark with the second day of the e-auction stopping at a mind-boggling Rs 6032.5 crore as broadcasting majors Star and Sony continued their bidding slugfest along with the new entrants Jio (Reliance).
The Global Consolidated Rights (which includes broadcast as well as digital rights for India and Rest of the World) bid has already witnessed a quantum jump from the 2012 Star Tv bid of Rs 3851 crore.
After the second day, BCCI’s media rights value has already gone up by 56 percent with the per match value touching nearly Rs 60 crore (Rs 59.16 crore) for 102 international games across three formats.
This is already Rs 17 crore more compared to Rs 43 crore (per match) during the earlier period (2012-2018).
“Every bidder has its threshold. They are slowly reaching that point. If it reaches Rs 7000 crore, it will be another landmark financial deal for Indian cricket,” an official said.