India’s 1983 World Cup-winning cricketer Kirti Azad expresses concerns after Supreme Court amends critical clauses in BCCI constitution
Kirti Azad. Pic/AFP
One of the most critical voices against corruption in the BCCI and the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad has expressed his concern over the Supreme Court order to amend the constitution of the country’s cricket governing body, saying it will lead to the same situation which prevailed before 2016.
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Azad, 63, said that the committee constituted by the then Chief Justice of India TS Thakur to correct anomalies in the BCCI had made certain observations, but, unfortunately, those points, which are most important, had been removed in the new judgment.
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has allowed the BCCI plea in connection with the amendments proposed to its Constitution to relax the cooling-off period requirement. The decision will allow the current set of office-bearers, led by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah, to be in office until 2025.
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Ganguly and Shah had already served one term each at the state and BCCI levels and would have been disqualified under the existing rule. However, they can now serve an additional term in the BCCI. The whole conflict between the BCCI and Supreme Court started long ago and has seen a lot of twists and turns.
Asked about his thoughts on the Supreme Court judgment, the 1983 World Cup-winning team member Kirti Azad said, “It [BCCI functioning] will get back to what it used to be before 2016. And we will find a lot of these frauds taking place again and the thing will carry on. Politicians will take over and the crooks will rule the roost."
“Corruption now will be rampant, more than before it was in 2016. There is no transparency and we all know people belonging to really big political, influential families have taken over,” Azad said.
“Crores of rupees were spent on that [court cases] with all the state associations putting up the costliest advocates they could find. The BCCI did the same. We also fought. We had lawyers with us who did pro bono cases and it’s unfortunate that these things have happened. I’ve also read Justice RM Lodha’s press statements in an interview; he himself has said that the tenure was the most important part of it,” he added.
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