All cool now!

Justice RM Lodha whose committee introduced sweeping changes in the BCCI and its state units appeared displeased after the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the second time amended its own judgmentThe Apex Court decided to amend the contentious coolingoff clause paving the way for current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to continue for another term in their posts which otherwise would not have been possible with the mandatory coolingoff period after holding two consecutive threeyear terms in the BCCI or the state association or a combination of both Ganguly was president of Cricket Association of Bengal before becoming BCCI boss while Shah headed the Gujarat Cricket AssociationJustice Lodha to middayldquoIt seems the past judgments of the Supreme Court must be so grossly erroneous that a need arose to amend its own judgment several timesrdquo Justice Lodha told midday from New Delhi Previous amendmentsOn July 16 2016 the Supreme Court pronounced its first verdict accepting the reforms suggested by the Lodha Committee There was a mandatory coolingoff period of three years after each term be it at the BCCI or state associationAlso Read Fans in Thiruvananthapuram plan to protest against Sanjus noninclusionOn August 9 2018 the Apex Court amended the coolingoff clause to six yearsmdashat BCCI or in a state association or a combination of both On Wednesday the bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli who heard the matter for two consecutive days decided to further relax the coolingoff period by allowing officebearers to continue for two terms in BCCI and state association before the threeyear coolingoff period comes into effect So an officebearer can have a total of 12 years at a stretch considering heshe is elected in the BCCI and state association for consecutive terms of threeyear eachJustice Lodha cited the example of a mountain climber to express his disappointment over the constant amendments to coolingoff period ldquoIt coolingoff period is like a mountain of snow which looks difficult to climb So the climbers read administrators waited for the weather to changerdquo the former Chief Justice of India remarkedDuring the hearing Justice Chandrachud and Justice Kohli felt the coolingoff period is ldquounduly stringentrdquo and needed modification They felt the relaxation in coolingoff period does not go against the lsquospirit of the judgmentrsquolsquoWonrsquot dilute the spiritrsquoldquoWersquore of the view that the proposed amendment would not dilute the spirit and object of the coolingoff period if implemented after an individual has completed two terms at either BCCI or state federations We therefore accept this amendmentrdquo the bench said according to an IANS reportOther amendments were also sought at Wednesdayrsquos hearing where the bench agreed that only those convicted of offence will be barred from contesting electionsAs per the current rules and regulations those chargesheeted are disallowed to contestThe bench agreed to modify the scope of public servants Only ministers and government officials will be barred from contesting paving way for Member of Parliaments and MLAs to participate in cricket administration Do these modifications hurt Justice Lodha ldquoSee we did our job and recommended certain reforms which were required We had spoken to all the stakeholders of the game before coming out with our detailed report Our report was accepted by the Supreme Court with certain modificationsrdquo Justice Lodha said In a nutshell Cooling off period after two terms That is six years in state association and six years in the BCCI before the coolingoff period triggers in Disqualifications of those with criminal charges changed to those with convictions not involving punishment of just a fine Cricketers involved in other sports administration can contest polls for officebearer posts Disqualifications on the grounds for holding public office should only apply for ministers and public officials paving way for MPs and MLAs Also Read Coolingoff period will deprive worthy administrators BCCI tells SC