Explained: Why Ganguly & Shah Remain at BCCI Despite Tenure’s End

Why BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah’s tenures at the board is technically over.

According to the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s constitution, President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah are both past the date of the end of their tenures as board officials. Just nine months after their appointment.

Both were elected to their positions in October 2019 after years of administrative vacuum in the BCCI as the Supreme Court waited for all members to fall in line and comply with the Lodha Committee recommendations that were added to the board’s constitution.

Ganguly and Shah are now themselves in breach of one of the Lodha recommendations – of a compulsory ‘cooling off period’ after serving 6 years as a cricket administrator – by continuing in their positions. They are waiting for the Supreme Court’s hearing of BCCI’s plea on 17 August, regarding this clause (and a few others) in the new constitution.

So, where do things stand and why are these BCCI officials expected to leave after just nine months in their posts? The Quint explains.

What's the Case?

• January 2016: The Lodha Committee submitted its report of recommendations for reforms in the BCCI constitution, including an integral ‘cooling off period’ for board officials.
• January 2017: Anurag Thakur was sacked as the BCCI President for failing to implement all reforms.
• August 2019: Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators announces the new constitution has come into effect, with amendments including a mandatory ‘cooling off period’ for officials who have completed two terms in an administrative position in Indian cricket.
• October 2019: Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah are among the new BCCI office-bearers elected by the board.
• December 2019: In his first AGM as president, Sourav Ganguly and BCCI's officials were in consensus on their decision to appeal to the Supreme Court about some of the contentious clauses in the constitution, including the mandatory cooling off period.

The “cooling off period” is what Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah are going to be forced into if the board’s plea in the Supreme Court, which is to be heard on 17 August, isn’t granted.

In a way, it is also a full circle of the board’s SC-ordered reforms.

Five-and-a-half years after Justice Lodha’s committee recommended changes to the Constitution, one vital change that has already been amended, threatens to overthrow the officials who were the first to be elected to their posts, following the implementation of the reforms.

Why Do the Rules Say?

The Lodha Committee in its report stated that “in order to ensure that the (BCCI officials’) posts are not treated as permanent positions of power, each term should be for three years.”

In the subheading “End of The Innings,” the Committee recommended that “the terms of these Office Bearers continue to be of 3 years but with a maximum of 3 such terms regardless of the post held, with a cooling off period after each such term.”

Meaning, once the new BCCI constitution was introduced, and in order to avoid one single official holding a post for long term, every official’s term would last just three years after which they would have to leave the board and enter a “cooling off period” of three years before being allowed back in an administrative position.

This, however, was one of the clauses that was much debated with the Supreme Court relenting and allowing one official to hold their post for six years before going into a cooling off period. However, this six years would count their cumulative time in the BCCI and also in state cricket administration.

Ganguly completed his six years on 27 July and Jay Shah has already finished his six.

What's the BCCI's Case?

While the BCCI’s constitution allows an official to be a part of Indian cricket administration (state associations and the BCCI) for a total of six years before going into a mandatory “cooling off period,” the BCCI now have approached the Supreme Court to not count their combined time in State Boards and the BCCI but to only account for an official’s tenure with the apex board.

In December, at the BCCI’s first AGM under the new leadership, all 38 members voted to approach the Supreme Court to amend the rules.

Now, even as Jay Shah’s tenure is clearly over, he continues to carry out the responsibilities of the board’s Secretary, even sending out the agenda for the Apex Council meeting last Friday and attending it himself. The representative of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) in the BCCI, Alka Rehani Bharadwaj, had, in fact, even urged the board to ensure that only members “eligible as per the constitution” attend the meeting, but yet, Shah was part of the proceedings.

Ganguly, whose tenure ended this week, will in all likelihood be part of the IPL’s big Governing Council meeting this weekend.

When Do Ganguly & Shah's Tenures End?

Sourav Ganguly started his journey in cricket administration as a joint secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) when Jagmohan Dalmiya was president, on 27 July 2014. He then became the CAB president in 2015 and then resigned from the post to take over the helms at the BCCI.

Thus, on 27 July 2020 he completed a total of six years in Indian cricket administration and must go into a mandatory three year “cooling off period” where he can hold no post in the BCCI or any state association.

Jay Shah has already completed his six years as he served as the joint-secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association before his election as the BCCI’s secretary in October 2019.