CoA seeks SC order on removal of BCCI office-bearers

Kolkata: The Committee of Administrators (CoA) have sought the dismissal of BCCI’s acting president CK Khanna and secretary Amitabh Choudhary for not adhering to the Lodha Committee recommendations.

They have also sought the removal of treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry in it’s fifth status report that it submitted to the Supreme Court.

The report by the CoA which is of 26 pages (with annexures of 174 pages) asked for the, “governance, management and administration” of the BCCI to be handed over to them and a professional group led by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri till the fresh elections are held.

They wanted the removal of Aniruddh and Amitabh just like former BCCI Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke for failing to implement the reforms suggested by the Lodha Committee.

“…it is only fair that the current office-bearers be treated in the same manner because a further period of six months have elapsed since the said office-bearers submitted their undertakings and reforms mandated by Hon’ble Court have still not been implemented,” read the report.

It also states, “It is clear that current office-bearers are not in position to make good on their undertakings and ensure that reforms mandated by this Hon’ble Court is implemented.”

Also the two-member CoA mentioned that the order by the apex court on July 24 was, “deliberately misconstrued” when CEO Rahul Johri along with the legal and administrative staff of the board were ousted from the BCCI SGM on July 26.

The Indian board’s treatment of the Supreme Court’s neutral expression of etc was also mentioned by the CoA as it stated, “to bring in a series of issues aimed at unravelling the core of the reforms mandated including disqualifications of office-bearers, constitution of Apex Council, clear demarcation of functions, powers, duties and obligations between professional management and apex council.”

That the BCCI was , “acting contrary” to the Lodha Committee Report was also mentioned by DDCA administrator Justice (Retd) Vikramjit Sen, states the CoA report.

The CoA also stated that the main issues discussed in the July 26 SGM, besides the membership and selection committee (reduction of membership from 5 to 3) form the main core of the reforms mandated by the Supreme Court in it’s judgement on the 18th of July, 2016.

States the report, “Describing these issues as “impracticable” or “difficult” is nothing short of “gross abuse/contempt of the court order dated July 24, 2017 and ought to attract appropriate consequences.”

It also refers to the failure of the BCCI to appoint an Ombudsman after Justice AP Shah whose tenure ended in 2016. It specifically mentioned that despite suggesting six names of retired judges, the BCCI relied on it’s office bearers to decide on the same.

They also mentioned the BCCI’s, “failure to adopt new conflict of interest” rules.

The report also adds that the idea of adopting to a new fund disbursement policy was faced with resistance and opposition as the addition of members would reduce the share of the existing ones.