Subramanian Swamy filed an intervention petition in the Supreme Court on Monday, 18 July 2022. The petition has opposed the move of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, in which the BCCI has sought to extend the cooling-off period (from the end of the term to the completion of the new process) of its president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah and other office bearers.
BCCI had filed this petition in 2019. After this, it recently appealed to the Supreme Court for an early hearing on the petition. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on July 20, however, even before that, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has questioned the amendments and sought the Supreme Court’s permission to present his arguments on the matter.
Former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy says it is not right to change the BCCI constitution as approved by the Supreme Court. The BCCI had amended the constitution in 2019 at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) without the approval of the Supreme Court.
After this, an application was filed in the Supreme Court for its implementation. Subramanian Swamy, in his 28-page petition, has contended that the BCCI’s application seeking approval from the Supreme Court to amend its constitution is to derail the landmark 2018 verdict.
Subramanian Swamy questioned the proposed amendment by the BCCI, saying that it is in violation of the Supreme Court’s decision. He sought the approval of the Supreme Court to present the arguments by making him a party in the case.
According to the proposed constitutional amendment of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, if a person serves two consecutive terms while holding the post of President or Secretary in the BCCI, he will have to serve a cooling-off period of three years, but this does not include the time spent in the state cricket association.
At the same time, according to the constitution passed by the Supreme Court, if a person has been an office bearer (President, Secretary, Treasurer, Joint Secretary, Vice President or other) for 6 consecutive years in any BCCI or State Cricket Association, then he will have a cooling off period of 3 years.
Let us tell you, Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah took charge in October 2019. Both have a tenure of 3 years. The term of both is coming to an end in September 2022. For this reason, the BCCI wants to hear the matter at the earliest, so that it can get time for further processing.