Row over missing section from BCA’s constitution

Vadodara: The management of the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) has come under the scanner for removing four sub-rules in its constitution that were included on the basis of the Supreme Court’s judgement in September last year. These sub-rules in rule 14 were related to the tenure of the apex council members in the BCA.
After it came to light on Tuesday that the constitution uploaded by the BCA on its website didn’t have the sub-rules, the association hastily withdrew it. And, a fresh copy of the BCA constitution that included these sub-rules was uploaded on Tuesday night.
BCA chairman of the press and publicity committee, Satyajitsinh Gaekwad said, “The sub-rules were removed as they were already mentioned in the disqualification rule of the BCA constitution. It was done just to avoid repetition.” When asked why BCA uploaded the fresh constitution re-inducting those sub-rules, Gaekwad failed to come up with any reply.
The BCA had on February 8 this year uploaded the latest constitution with Supreme Court guidelines on its website in which rule 14 (5), 14 (6), 14 (7) and 14 (8) related to the maximum tenure of the apex council members and nominated councillors were not included. The sub-rule five says no individual can be a councillor for more than nine years. The BCA constitution defines councillors as the members of the apex council.
“The constitution clearly says that all the members of the apex council are councillors who can have a maximum nine-year term. Elected office-bearers are apex council members so it’s wrong to say that office-bearer and apex council member is different,” said Sanjeev Gupta, former Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) member who wrote an email to the BCA on Tuesday over the removal of sub-rules from the constitution.
“If any councillor has served for nine years in the apex council, then he cannot contest separately as an office-bearer. The BCA removed sub-rules from its constitution and went against the SC order,” Gupta said.
He wrote in his email that as per the BCA and BCCI rules, BCA president Pranav Amin and others who have completed nine years as BCA apex council/managing committee member stand disqualified to be BCA apex council member.
Amin, who recently got elected unopposed as BCA president, however, has already said that as per the rules he is eligible to be the office-bearer. A BCA member has approached the Gujarat high court and raised the issue of Amin and BCA secretary Ajit Lele’s candidate eligibility following which the court has issued the duo a notice.