Supreme Court allows the Indian Cricket Board to amend its constitution, Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah set to continue for another term

Over the last few years, the Indian Cricket Board has been raising its concern about the constitution imposed by the COAs. The court-appointed administrators had imposed a few rules on the cricket board which wasn't going down well. Now, the board has gotten some respite from the Supreme Court of India. Apparently, the court has decided to allow the board to amend its constitution.

For the unversed, the board had an objection against the cooling-off period for the office bearers. According to it, an administrator had to go through a cooling-off period of two years after serving three years in the office. An administrator could only return to his post after completing the period. Now, the cooling-off period will be in effect after the two terms (three years each). This means that board secretary Jay Shah and president Sourav Ganguly can continue even after completing three years.

The cooling-off period was stringent: Supreme Court Bench

A judge bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli has said that the now-diluted cooling-off period was stringent for an administrator. However, while allowing for the particular rule change, the bench said that the amendment doesn't mean that the cooling-off period's objective would be diluted.

"The submission that the application of cooling off to an individual who has undergone one term at each level (at state unit and BCCI) is stringent," and added, "keeping the reason for which cooling off period was introduced, we are of the considered view that the amendment would not dilute the original objective. We therefore accept the proposed amendment."

This also means that Rajiv Shukla can also continue for a longer term in the board. Apparently, the Court has also agreed to define the definition of 'Public Servant' in the board's constitution. For those who don't know, Public Servants were barred from holding any position in office. Now, there will be some exceptions made in the new amendments.