BCCI moves Supreme Court to stop Lalit Modi from becoming Rajasthan cricket chief
Lalit Modi had contested the Rajasthan Cricket Association presidential elections on December 19 and his group is expected to win.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: January 02, 2014 04:23 PM IST
As decided by its working committee last week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has moved the Supreme Court to stop Lalit Modi from becoming the president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association. Riding on the Rajasthan Sports Act, 2005 Modi had contested the RCA elections on December 19. His group is expected to win when the apex court declares the results next week.
The BCCI has filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that any association of Modi with RCA will affect the image of the cricket Board. The BCCI had in September 2013 slapped a life-ban on Modi for financial irregularities when he was Indian Premier League commissioner from 2008 to 2010.
BCCI's petition also says Modi's nomination was incorrect as RCA rejected BCCI objections to the former IPL chief's candidature. The Rajasthan elections were supervised by two Supreme Court-appointed former judges and Modi was allowed to contest because RCA's elections were not governed by BCCI's rules.
On December 28, the BCCI said in a press statement that it will "intervene" in the Special Leave Petition filed by former RCA secretary Kishore Rungta in the Supreme Court challenging the Rajasthan Sports Act. The matter comes up for hearing before a division bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Deepak Mishra on January 6. Rungta had filed the SLP particularly challenging Rajasthan Sports Act of 2005 that abolished individual members' voting rights. (Polls can see new equations)
The RCA elections were held in Jaipur on December 19 and the Modi group is confident that it will win the support of at least 29 of the 33 district units. The RCA, which is governed by the Rajasthan Sports Act, had ignored a BCCI diktat and went ahead with the elections that were overseen by two former judges. The court is expected to declare the results on January 6, the same time when Rungta's SLP will also be heard. (Can't ban Modi, Rajasthan tells BCCI)
The BCCI working committee met in Chennai on Saturday to discuss how to stop Modi from returning as RCA president. It was decided that BCCI and Rungta will form a combine to contest the Act that allowed Modi to become RCA president in 2005. The BCCI also decided to take strict action against RCA for flouting Board directives. But the Board said the interest of cricket and players won't be harmed. (Srinivasan should not decide on Modi: Abdi)