Ashish Shelar’s new role as a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government means the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will have one more slot vacant soon.
As per the BCCI constitution Shelar, who has been the board’s treasurer since October 2022, will have to give up his role in cricket administration as ministers are barred from holding a position in the cricket board.
With Jay Shah moving on to the International Cricket Council as its chairman, the position of the BCCI secretary is already vacant and for now, president Roger Binny has delegated the functions of the secretary to Devajit Saikia, the joint secretary, till the post of the secretary is ‘duly filled up as per the processes laid down as per the BCCI rules and regulations.”
The Board’s constitution states that from the time an elected office-bearer resigns, the board has 45 days to call for a Special General Meeting and choose his successor, so now with Shelar taking over as a minister, the Board insiders indicate that the president will have to soon convene a Special General Meeting and conduct the elections for the vacant positions.
However, the ruling BCCI dispensation has so far been tight-lipped about Shah and Shelar’s successors.
While implementing the Lodha Committee recommendations in 2016, the Supreme Court had ruled that no minister and public servant – including MPs, and MLAs – could become an administrator in the BCCI. Back then, Shelar was the vice-president of the Mumbai Cricket Association and soon after the verdict, he wasn’t eligible to hold posts.
But in September 2022, the Supreme Court allowed the BCCI to amend its constitution, allowing the MPs and the MLAs to be part of state associations and the BCCI, while the directive to bar ministers from holding a position remained intact. That allowed Shelar and Rajeev Shukla, an MP, to return to the BCCI administration as treasurer and vice presidents respectively.