The fates of Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah at the BCCI hang in balance as the Supreme Court hears the board's plea on Wednesday for changes in its constitution. The apex court will hear the BCCI plea to enable the duo of Ganguly and Shah to stay on in their positions instead of going on a mandatory cooling-off period.
Ganguly and Shah were appointed as the President and the Secretary of the BCCI respectively in October 2019, which marked the beginning of a new era for BCCI under a reformed constitution.
According to the new constitution, a cooling-off period of three years is mandatory after serving for six years as an office-bearer in either a state association or the Board.
Ganguly and Shah took charge of the BCCI in October 2019 with only nine months left for their cumulative six years in the state and national unit to get completed. While the former Indian captain held positions at the Cricket Association of Bengal since July 2014, Shah was the office-bearer at Gujarat Cricket Association (since 2013).
Hence, both are currently ineligible to hold their positions at the BCCI and the constitution mandates the duo to serve a three-year cooling off period.
Soon after their appointments, BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal filed a plea to the Supreme Court proposing a number of amendments to the board's constitution, including one on cooling-off period regulation.
According to BCCI, the cooling-off period restricts worthy administrators of holding positions in the board. The BCCI further wants the cooling-off period regulation to only be triggered when an individual completes six years at a particular position in the board.
This would allow Ganguly and Shah to stay at their respective positions till 2025.
If Supreme Court agrees to BCCI's plea, the amendments would trigger a huge u-turn to the recommendations from the Lodha Committee, which were implemented by the three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA).
