Supreme Court Vacates 2-Yr old Blanket Ban Restraining Other Courts From Hearing Disputes Related To BCCI, State Cricket Associations

The Supreme Court on Wednesday vacated its nearly two-year old blanket ban restraining other courts from hearing disputes related to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and state cricket associations.

The apex court, on March 14, 2019, had restrained all other courts across the country from entertaining or proceeding with any matter pertaining to cash-rich BCCI and state cricket associations till the court-appointed mediator and senior advocate P S Narasimha submitted his report on pending disputes.

A bench comprising justices L Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and Ajay Rastogi, on Wednesday, took note of submissions of various lawyers on behalf of state cricket bodies and decided to vacate the order.

"The learned Amicus Curiae submitted a report on 09.05.2019 to this Court. Majority of the State Associations became compliant with the Lodha Committee's report as accepted by this Court by its judgment dated 09.08.2018, pursuant to which elections have been conducted", noted the bench. In 2017, the apex court had appointed CoA, headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Vinod Rai, to run the affairs of BCCI and implement the court-approved recommendations of Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.

As regards Contempt Petitions complaining of the non-compliance of the directions issued by the Lodha Committee by the Kerala Cricket Association and the Committee of Administrators, the bench was of the opinion that the contempt petitions deserve to be closed. However, it permitted that the petitioners can pursue other remedies for implementation of the recommendation made by Justice Lodha Committee. " This order is in modification of the order passed by this Court on 14.03.2019 by which there was a restraint on all other Courts from entertaining any petition pertaining to the BCCI and any other State Cricket Association till the process of mediation by the learned Amicus Curiae was completed. As stated above, the learned Amicus Curiae has submitted a report of completion of the mediation and the order restraining the other Courts from adjudicating disputes brought before them need not continue", said the bench.

Further, only except the application filed by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association for the release of funds, all the other interlocutory applications were dismissed as infructuous as no objection was raised by the counsel appearing in the interlocutory applications.

"Due to the efforts made by learned Amicus Curiae, majority of the associations have resolved their disputes...Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, learned counsel appearing for the Karnataka Cricket Association argued that certain issues have not been resolved and requested this Court to hear the applications. The applicants participated in the mediation process and have signed an agreement. We are not inclined to accept the contention of Shri Srinivasan and keep these interlocutory applications pending as the disputes relating to the Karnataka Cricket Association stood resolved through mediation", recorded the bench, disposing off a batch of Interlocutory Applications.

As regards certain interlocutory applications where there is a contest which the bench would like to hear, the bench required the same to be listed on 20th January, 2021. This included the BCCI's earlier application in the apex court for approving the amended constitution which sought to waive the three-year cooling period fixed by the Lodha committee. Since the court did not deal with the applications, this gave BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah a short breather to continue in their respective posts at least till the beginning of next year as the Supreme Court deferred hearing on the board's plea to waive the three-year cooling-off period for office-bearers in view of the draft amendments to its constitution.

As regards applications filed by the Telangana Cricket Association seeking impleadment and clarification that it would be granted Associate Membership within BCCI, Mr.Siddharth Luthra, senior counsel submitted that these interlocutory applications can be disposed of with liberty to the Telangana Cricket Association to approach the BCCI and make a representation for grant of Associate Membership in BCCI. "Permission granted. Interlocutory applications are disposed of with liberty to the applicants to submit a representation before the BCCI which shall be disposed of in accordance with law", allowed the bench.

"The LPAs that are pending before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court can be adjudicated upon by the High Court on their own merits", said the bench.

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