SC refuses to entertain stay on BCCI elections

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking stay on the Board of Control for Cricket in India elections scheduled to take place on May 22.

The petitioner, Cricket Association of Bihar, had asked the apex court to stay the elections or restrain the candidates having chargesheet against them as suggested by the RS Lodha Committee.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur is among the candidates against whom chargesheet has been filed.

The apex court asked the petitioner to approach the bench, which passed the earlier order.

The Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee had earlier in their report recommended the legalisation of betting in Indian cricket.

The Lodha Committee also suggested the appointment of three authorities with distinct roles.

The Lodha panel proposed that the second authority would be the ethics officer, who will administer the issues relating to conflict of interest, behavior or corruption.

The panel said that the ethics officer would be a former High Court Judge.

"The third authority, which we proposed to be created, is an electoral officer, who will oversee the entire election process relating to the office bearers, namely preparation of voters' list, publications, disputes about eligibility of the office bearers, all these matters relating to election shall be overseen by the electoral officer," the panel said.

The other recommendations include a Steering Committee headed by former home secretary GK Pillai with Mohinder Amarnath, Diana Eduljee and Anil Kumble as its members.

The Lodha committee was appointed by the apex court last year to make recommendations to the BCCI in order to prevent frauds and conflict of interest in cricket administration.