Mumbai: A day ahead of the Test series between India and New Zealand gets underway in Kanpur, the BCCI top brass will meet for the 87th Annual General Meeting here on Wednesday. The meeting is set to be a routine affair but will be held under the shadow of Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha panel recommendations for sweeping reforms in the BCCI.
The top agenda for the AGM will be the election for the secretary which is essential as Ajay Shirke was nominated by president Anurag Thakur after the latter was elevated to the top position on May 22. Shirke was to hold the office till the next AGM. He, however, is likely to retain his post, though the board had been accepting nominations until Tuesday afternoon.
The meeting is also set to focus on the picking of the selection panels (senior and junior), working committee members and a new ombudsman because the tenure of Justice AP Shah is set to end on September 22. Also BCCI may nominate a representative to attend future ICC and Asian Cricket Council meetings.
The other items on the agenda include acceptance of the report by secretary who sent the formal notice of the meeting on August 31, the treasurer’s report and statement of accounts for the previous fiscal and annual budget for 2016-17 fiscal year.
The Lodha panel has already put BCCI under pressure by giving deadlines for the full adoption of its reforms as approved by the SC and has also directed the BCCI that Wednesday’s AGM must be limited only to routine business concerning the past year.
In an e-mail sent on August 31 by Lodha Committee spokesperson to BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri it said the AGM should be limited to “routine business concerning the past year (2015-16)” and that any business or matters relating to the next year (2016-17) be dealt with only after the BCCI implements the Committee’s recommendations.
The first deadline is September 30, by when the BCCI and state associations need to amend their constitutions and adopt the new Memorandum of Association and Rules. The second is December 15, by when the board must hold elections to form nine-member Apex Council to replace the working committee and hold its AGM.
The BCCI backed by legal counsel from Markandey Katju. The former SC judge has been defiant and even filed a petition seeking a review of the apex court’s order of July 18.
