Supreme Court postpones Thursday’s BCCI hearing

By Baidurjo Bhose

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Supreme Court was expected to hear from the amicus curiae P.S. Narasimha about the discussions he has had with the state associations of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

But as per a decision taken by the apex court on Wednesday, the matter will now be listed for hearing on April 25 and May 2.

The bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and A.M. Sapre had last month asked the state associations to discuss their issues with the amicus curiae and solve the disputes that have risen with regard to the new BCCI constitution.

The SC order on March 14 read: "By consent of all the parties, P.S. Narasimha, learned amicus curiae, is appointed by this court to act as a mediator in relation to any dispute that might arise in the instant interlocutory applications pending before us."

There were close to 80 petitions that had been filed by the state bodies in the SC. Most of the issues relate to the claims by the state associations that the SC-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has tweaked the new constitution and it isn't in accordance with the order of the court.

Another issue is the release of funds that the state bodies feel has been unnecessarily held up.

The amicus curiae has been meeting the lawyers of the CoA and the state bodies as well as BCCI functionaries to ensure a smooth solution to the prevalent issues. Once cleared, the SC is expected to announce the BCCI elections.

(Baidurjo Bhose can be contacted at baidurjo.b@ians.in)