Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah Can Have BCCI Term 2 After Supreme Court Order

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday accepted the proposed changes in the Board of Control for Cricket in India's constitution, which will allow current president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to get an extension to their term. Both Ganguly and Shah's first terms were set to expire due to the 'cooling off period' clause in the BCCI constitution.

The BCCI, in its proposed amendment, had sought the abolition of a cooling-off period for its office bearers which would enable Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah to continue in office as President and Secretary despite them having completed six years at respective state cricket associations.

Earlier, the Justice RM Lodha-led committee had recommended reforms in the BCCI which have been accepted by the top court.

On Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for BCCI, told a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli, that the game of cricket is substantially streamlined in the country. He submitted that the apex court has said that when the bye-laws will go into functional preparedness, some changes could be made with the leave of the court.

He said that the BCCI is an autonomous body and all the changes have been considered by the AGM of the cricket body. While the submission was being made, the bench said "BCCI is an autonomous body. We cannot micro-manage its functioning." Mehta said, "As the constitution exists today, there is a cooling off period. If I am an office bearer of the state cricket association for one term and BCCI for another consecutive term, then I have to go for a cooling off period".

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He added that both bodies are different and their rules are also different and two consecutive tenures of the office bearer are too short to develop