BCCI is free from the rule of Committee of Administrators and now has an elected President and other officials after almost three years. Till some days back Sourav Ganguly was not a candidate for BCCI President. When election schedule was announced Brijesh Patel was reported to be the candidate. Overnight something changed and Sourav Ganguly emerged as the only candidate. Brijesh Patel is also a former Test player.
Supreme Court had appointed CoA in January 2017 to administer BCCI and see that it has a new Constitution as per Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha Panel recommendations and Constitutions of cricket associations affiliated to BCCI are in line with BCCI Constitution. It had Vinod Rai as chairman and Ramachandra Guha, Vikram Limaye and Diana Eduljee as members.
There was resistance by many persons who did not like changes. They went to Supreme Court which modified some changes. Associations of Baroda, Saurashtra, Maharashtra and Vidarbha were allowed to continue as full members. However there was no escape from age limit of 70 years. CoA was to solve problems facing BCCI and act suitably. There were differences between members. Ramachandra Guha quit CoA as it did not stand firm against Virat Kohli’s demand to remove Anil Kumble as coach and CoA did not address several cases of conflict of interest. Vikram Limaye quit as he got a job. In 2019 differences between Vinod Rai and Diana Eduljee were public and Supreme Court appointed Ravi Thodge as CoA member to break the tie between the two.
As the term of CoA came to an end Supreme Court ordered payment of 40 lakh rupees to Ramachandra Guha, 50.5 lakh rupees to Vikram Limaye, 3.62 crore rupees each to Vinod Rai and Diana Eduljee and 60 lakh rupees to Ravi Thodge based on the monthly calculation of 10 lakh rupees for 2017, 11 lakh rupees for 2018 and 12 lakh rupees for 2019. As per reports Ramachandra Guha and banker Vikram Limaye, who were part of the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA) for limited periods, have declined to accept the payment.
As per BCCI’s Constitution, Sourav Ganguly has around 10 months as BCCI President. Those who could not get elected as officials of BCCI or state associations have got their proxies elected. They want to change BCCI’s Constitution. There is also issue of conflict of interest which prevents cricketers from holding more than one office. Sourav Ganguly will do what he has to do. He will talk to Virat Kohli as BCCI President talks to captain. Ravi Shastri has to be careful about what he says about Sourav Ganguly.
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