BCCI suspends Rajasthan Cricket Association after it elects Lalit Modi as president
Jaipur: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has suspended the Rajasthan Cricket Association soon after it elected former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi as its president today.
The stage has been set for yet another round of legal tussle between Lalit Modi and a livid BCCI, which had threatened to ban RCA in anticipation of this result.
The election was conducted in December last year but the results were sealed following a Supreme Court directive. After much deliberation, the result was finally announced by a court-appointed observer here on Tuesday.
As expected Modi won by a landslide margin, polling in 24 out of 33 votes, while his opponent Rampal Sharma earned just five.
The administrator, who has been living in London for the past four years, was allowed to contest the RCA elections held on December 19 last year under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed observer.
Among other office-bearers, Somendra Tiwari was elected as the new secretary, while Pawan Goyal won the treasurer's post. Mehmood M Abdi, a close confidante and legal counsel of Modi, has been elected as the deputy president of the RCA.
Modi was slapped with a life ban by the BCCI on September 25 last year after its disciplinary committee found him guilty on eight charges of "indiscipline and misconduct".
After Modi entered the fray in the RCA elections, BCCI had challenged the Rajasthan Sports Act, 2005 which allowed the former IPL chief to contest the presidential polls despite being banned for life by the Board.
Modi's re-election is being seen a massive blow to current BCCI President N Srinivasan, who has been forced to step aside due to the ongoing Supreme Court-monitored probe into the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal.
Modi has never minced words in criticising Srinivasan, calling him corrupt on several occasions.
The BCCI disciplinary committee, comprising Arun Jaitley, and Jyotiraditya Scindia, had submitted a 134-page report in July, 2013, in which it had found Modi guilty of financial irregularities, indiscipline and "actions detrimental to the interest of the BCCI". later in 2013, the apex court made its retired judge Justice Kasliwal a principal observer to oversee the RCA elections.
The elections had become contentious because Modi was in the fray for the president-ship. Challenging the election, the BCCI pleaded that Modi should not have been allowed to contest and the election be quashed. But the Supreme Court, last month, cleared the decks for the declaration of RCA's election results.
Brushing aside the BCCI's objection, a bench headed by Justice A R Dave directed the registry to send the results, in a sealed envelope by its appointed observer Justice (retd) N M Kasliwal. The court, however, has said that anyone aggrieved of the outcome can challenge it before an appropriate authority.
