Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah tenure case: SC appoints amicus curiae

To hear plea for amendment to constitution on July 28NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear next week a plea of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) for amendment of its court-approved constitution to enable its president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah complete their three year terms by ducking the mandatory cooling off period. While fixing July 28 for hearing on the more than two-year-old application of BCCI, a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli appointed senior advocate Maninder Singh as amicus curiae.

Earlier, senior advocate PS Narasimha, prior to his appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court, was assisting the court as amicus curiae in the BCCI matter. Singh brings rich experience in cricket administration as he has been handling several responsibilities in the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA).

He has been a government nominee in the apex council of DDCA for nearly two years. DDCA president Rohan Jaitley had also appointed him as the chairperson of Legal Committee and HR Policy Committee.

BCCI has moved the Supreme Court seeking important changes in its Constitution that would allow president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to complete their three-year terms by ducking the three year cooling off period, prescribed by Justice Lodha panel and approved by SC, applicable to both from July and June respectively. In the application filed by BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal in April 2020, BCCI had said that its AGM on December 1, 2019, had approved changes relating to cooling off period criteria and had sought SC's permission to implement them by changing the board's constitution.