Reports | Supreme Court order confines disqualification rules to office bearers

The cooling-off period clause in the new BCCI constitution has had many state units of the national cricket board in confusion, with some associations refusing to come to an agreement before clarifications were made. Although the CoA had issued directions on August 27 and September 16 regarding eligibility and disqualification rules, these were not part of the Lodha panel reforms approved by the Supreme Court.

The order issued by a bench comprising Justices Sharad Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao explained that it was the office-bearers as defined by the association's bylaws who are not eligible for election to its apex council if they had held the position for successive terms aggregating six years or had completed a cumulative period of nine years. The new Supreme Court order allows committee members to hold their positions for another three-year term as councillors. This marks the first of a maximum of three three-year terms, with the cooling-off period kicking in after the second term.

However, it is still not known if all the states will be allowed to have more than nine members in the apex council they elect. It is expected that the next set of directions from the CoA will make matters clearer, but until then, PS Narasimha – the amicus curiae on the matter – will continue to have a big say on the apex council elections.