New Delhi: The Supreme Court had assigned Narsimha in March to mediate with various State associations which had 80 filed interim appeals. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) Tuesday said the much-awaited elections of the BCCI will be held 22 October.
The CoA, appointed by the Supreme Court January 2017 to oversee the sweeping reforms recommended by the Lodha panel, announced the elections date here after due consultation with the apex court-appointed amicus curiae P S Narsimha.
The Supreme Court had assigned Narsimha in March to mediate with various State associations which had 80 filed interim appeals.
In the meeting attended by all three CoA members — chief Vinod Rai, Diana Edulji and Ravi Thodge — the deadline to hold State elections was 14 September. Rai said 30 State associations have been rendered compliant and the rest are in the process of amending their constitution as per the Lodha reforms.
Asked about elections finally taking place in the BCCI, which has suffered from administrative crisis for more than two years, Rai said he was a happy man.
“When I was appointed by the Honourable Supreme Court, I had said my role will be of a night watchman and this night watchman has stayed for very long,” Rai told PTI in a light vein.
“We (CoA) are happy because our job was very specific. It was mandated to make them (the State associations) accept the constitution (as per Lodha recommendations). They (associations) had difficulties which was mediated between us, amicus and the court. We are happy to hand it over to them.
We sincerely believed a democratically-run, elected body should run cricket in the country,” added the former CAG.
Rai lauded amicus curiae Narsimha’s role in dealing with the State associations.
“We gave a lot of status reports (10 in all) to Supreme Court. The Supreme Court heard all the associations, then amicus was appointed by the Supreme Court to hold mediation. Amicus spent about 150 hours talking to all the State associations on clarifications which were sought. Ultimately, the State associations have come forward and accepted all the recommendations, about 30-odd have been rendered compliant.”
The strength of the apex council could be increased for the State units but in the BCCI, it will be limited to nine members as proposed.