Dubai: Ever since the Supreme Court ordered the sacking of the two top officials of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last Monday, life at the richest and possibly most high profile sport body in India is at a standstill.
Starting from the choice of convener of the selection committee meeting to announce the Indian team to daily activities, there is no clear way forward and the whole organisation is in a mess.
With former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, whom many thought will be able to guide the BCCI through the crisis should he be appointed as interim president, in no mood to rush his case, there is vacuum of leadership.
Almost all senior cricket administrators stand ineligible as they have already held positions for over nine years.
The selection committee on Friday could begin only after the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri received a written directive from the Lodha Committee.
Sensing his chance, the disgraced former BCCI and ICC president N. Srinivasan has jumped into the fray — planning to form a breakaway body and claim ownership of infrastructure in state associations and prevent matches from being held in the stadia. An informal meeting of all the sacked officials was scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Asked about the details of the meeting, which is reportedly being attended by 24 state associations, Srinivasan said: “It’s nothing but a few sacked employees meeting for a cup of coffee.” However, sources suggest that there is more to it which can even lead to more court battles.
A number of powerful state officials who had to step down, including former BCCI secretary and Saurashtra Cricket Association strongman Niranjan Shah, are now making a last ditch effort to cling onto power. Another factor which has emboldened some state associations strong is the fact that some of them are registered under the Registrar of Societies Act and have their own constitution and hence can battle it out with the Supreme Court.
A few state association heads, who have total control over the association by way of absolute majority, are even planning to rule by ‘proxy.’ Though officially a president and secretary will be elected, all the decisions will be engineered by those who had to step down.
Although the Lodha committee has won the first round by removing the officials, it’s not going to be easy to get all their directives implemented.
With virtually 90 per cent of the BCCI administrators rendered powerless, no one knows who will be able to streamline the activities now.
If some state associations decide not to be a part of BCCI anymore, it can bring the massive operations of Indian cricket to a standstill — including staging of international matches.
