The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), in its fourth status report submitted to the Supreme Court, has lambasted former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah of the Saurashtra Cricket Association, as well as other ex-members, stating that “such disqualified persons have a vested interest in stalling implementation of the Judgment”.
Srinivasan and Shah were both present at the Special General Meeting (SGM) held on June 26. In its report that was uploaded on the official website of the BCCI, the CoA stated: “Such disqualified persons have a vested interest in stalling implementation of judgement because if the judgement is implemented, such disqualified person will have to relinquish control over their respective state associations.”
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While Srinivasan was nominated by the executive committee of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association to represent the body in the meeting, Shah was a special invitee as he is a member of the special committee that has been formed for the implementation of the reforms.
The report further states that since the rules are only applicable to members of the respective bodies and not ordinary members who might be nominated by the associations, the entire purpose gets defeated. “In this manner, such disqualified persons are effectively able to do indirectly what they’ve been prohibited by this Hon’ble Court from doing directly,” it stated.
{{/usCountry}}The report further states that since the rules are only applicable to members of the respective bodies and not ordinary members who might be nominated by the associations, the entire purpose gets defeated. “In this manner, such disqualified persons are effectively able to do indirectly what they’ve been prohibited by this Hon’ble Court from doing directly,” it stated.
{{/usCountry}}According to the report, the CoA also alleged that the “disqualified persons were able to effectively hijack proceedings at the SGM by prevailing upon other attendees (who may have been otherwise willing to facilitate the reform process) to either support the cause of such disqualified persons or stay silent.” An audio clip supporting their claim has also been sent to the apex court.
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The report also criticized the role of Anirudh Chaudhry stating that the honorary treasurer “remained a mute spectator, lacking the courage or conviction to speak in favour of implementation of the reforms.”
However, the CoA heaped praise on honorary joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, stating that he was one of the few persons who tried to convince the representatives to “take concrete steps for implementation of the reforms.”
The CoA has also recommended six names for the appointment of a new ombudsman, a post which has been vacant since September 2016, and has asked the Supreme Court to look into the matter.
They also recommended the names of former Indian cricketers Anshuman Gaekwad, Kapil Dev and Bharath Reddy to be included as members of the reconstituted steering committee to initiate the process of establishing the Cricket Players’ Association as per the report submitted by the Lodha Committee.