A critical question the BCCI has to answer

What should have come from within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) representative. Alka Rehani Bharadwaj, part of the nine-member Apex Council, has sought clarifications on the tenure of three office-bearers. The Apex Council is the decision-making body of the BCCI, consisting of five office-bearers, two player representatives, a co-opted member and the CAG representative. Going by the BCCI constitution, secretary Jay Shah’s tenure got over last month. President Sourav Ganguly’s term ends on July 27 and joint-secretary Jayesh George’s on September 23. They have or will have completed six years at a stretch in office in BCCI and/or in state associations. A three-year cooling-off break is mandatory before they can take charge again.

While the BCCI appealed to the Supreme Court for a relaxation of this rule along with a host of other rules—and went into silence when the matter never came up for hearing—crucial questions kept begging for answers. The next Apex Council meeting is scheduled for July 17. Rehani Bharadwaj has asked for a status update of the three office-bearers. If the tenure is over, one is not eligible to attend Apex Council meetings. If Shah does so on July 17 or if Ganguly turns up for the next one after July 27, it will amount to violation of the BCCI constitution and lead to complications. Although the matter concerns the board and its 38 affiliated units, Rehani Bharadwaj is the only person asking this question. The silence of the office-bearers is leading to speculations. Do they believe that the court will throw them a lifeline? There is no answer.

What this does suggest, however, is that the BCCI remains the same. Cooling-off and other rules that they want to change are all part of the reforms carried out on the order of the apex court. Relaxation of regulations will take the BCCI back to the pre-reform days. Everybody in the BCCI is aware of this and still pretends as if there is nothing unusual about it. Rehani Bharadwaj deserves credit for raising the question. Sooner or later, the BCCI officials will have to answer it.