Jaipur: A defiant Lalit Modi-led Rajasthan Cricket Association has vowed to legally challenge its suspension by the Board for Control of Cricket in India.
The news of the BCCI’s decision to suspend the RCA indefinitely came as newly-elected president Modi was interacting with his team through video conferencing from London.
Modi then instructed his most trusted man and newly-elected RCA vice-president Mehmood Abdi to take the legal route.
“He has instructed us to study the BCCI decision and form a legal challenge,” Abdi said, adding that a two-member committee including lawyer Sudip Hora would study the BCCI decision to challenge it in the court.
According to sources, the Modi-led RCA may file a petition a lower court here in the next couple of days.
“The BCCI president and secretary cannot take the decision arbitrarily. They should have followed the due process of calling a special general meeting to discuss the proposal to this effect followed by show cause notice to the RCA and only after we would have replied to that notice could they have suspended the state association,” Abdi said.
According to Abdi, the BCCI cannot interfere in sports matters in Rajasthan. The BCCI has no right to suspend the RCA as the latter was governed by the Sports Act of Rajasthan and the elections were held as per this Act and Supreme Court’s directives.
“The BCCI is a private body; it is not above the law. It can form any rule it wishes but law of land will prevail in case of any activity in Rajasthan is concerned,” he added.
“It is unfair to punish the association because of ban on one person. Some of the members have been pushing for the SGM to be convened at the earliest and I hope this matter would come up there too,” Abdi said.
Accusing Shivlal Yadav of working as former BCCI president N. Srinivasan’s puppet, Abdi said, “We had hoped that after the Supreme Court’s intervention and appointment of Yadav as the acting president, the BCCI would take a different line and would not toe Srinivasan but it seems that Srinivasan is still calling the shots and Shivlal Yadav is acting like his puppet,” Abdi alleged.
Asked about appointment of the ad-hoc committee to run the RCA, Abdi said that it was not legally valid because as per Section 25 of the Rajasthan Sports Act, any person who did not belong to Rajasthan could not represent the state nor use the name of Rajasthan.
Asked if Modi would be able to run the RCA from London, Abdi said that Modi would handle the association through his executive committee.
C.P. Joshi was earlier RCA president but as Union minister he used to be in Delhi most of the time, he said.
On a question about Modi’s return to India, he said the latter would return when the security situation improved.
Meanwhile, former board president Sharad Pawar lashed out at the BCCI for suspending the RCA. “I was shocked to hear about the decision. I think it is a very harsh decision by the BCCI. For the sake of one individual to suspend a whole organisation is really shocking,” he added.
