COA chief Vinod Rai welcomes Supreme Court order on Cooling-off Period

Image Courtesy: PTI

NEW DELHI:  The Committee of Administrators chief Vinod Rai welcomed the Supreme Court order on mandatory cooling off period for BCCI office-bearers after two consecutive terms and for putting a roadmap in place for the Board's elections.

The original Lodha Committee reforms suggested only one term (of three years) before the mandatory cooling-off but the recent order allows office-bearers with two consecutive terms before the mandatory cooling period.

''This is an excellent order. I have absolutely no problem with the office-bearers having two consecutive terms. Even I had originally wanted a six-year term before a cooling off period but couldn't get consensus,'' Rai told PTI on what is being seen as the most significant aspect of the order.

Rai said another positive outcome is the timeline set by the apex court for the adoption of the approved BCCI constitution, which will also pave way for the Board's elections, provided there is a 100 per cent compliance by the state associations. 

The state units were warned by the SC to either comply or face action. ''Now we finally have a roadmap in place which will lead to the adoption of a new constitution in subsequent elections. Now there is a timeline in place,'' Rai said.

He also expressed satisfaction as all the original members retained their voting rights.
The SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, restored the permanent membership of Railways, Services and Universities and granted membership to Mumbai, Saurashtra, Vadodara and Vidarbha.

''We had maintained that legacy units like Mumbai should retain their voting rights. The draft constitution also mentions that. Every member unit should have voting rights,'' the former CAG said.

Another COA member Diana Edulji also welcomed the latest order.

"We are happy with the judgement. We were appointed by the Supreme Court in the first place to oversee reforms. Now that SC has modified its order, we will have to see that it is implemented properly. I hope everybody will comply and cricket will move on," she said. 

"We did not have anything personal (against any BCCI official). We were nominated by the SC to do a job and our focus has always been on that," she added.