Supreme Court ratifies BCCI elections

The Supreme Court of India has approved the BCCI's recent elections by staying a Madras High Court order that appointed an interim administrator to observe the conduct of the elections. This meant that Ranbir Singh Mahindra could take up his duties as head of the BCCI, and the other elected officials could take office as well.

However, the Supreme Court barred Jagmohan Dalmiya from becoming patron-in-chief of the board. The Times of India also reported that the Supreme Court sent back all other issues related to the voting, including the matter of the president's casting vote, to the Madras High Court, and advised that the adjourned annual general meeting be concluded even if matters pertaining to Dalmiya's nomination as patron-in-chief could not be conducted.

The BCCI's elections, a hotbed of politics at the best of times, came under severe media attention because Mahindra was pitted against Sharad Pawar, one of the most prominent names in Indian politics, for the post of board president. The close-run battle was settled when Dalmiya tilted the 15-15 tie with his casting vote.

But the newly elected board officials were restricted from taking office after the Nethaji Cricket Club - a Chennai-based voting member of the BCCI - filed a petition hinting at irregularities in the BCCI's voting process. The High Court appointed Justice S Mohan to administer the board's affairs until the case was resolved, but the BCCI contested his appointment, arguing that it was an error to order such a change in the middle of the Australia series, because even the process of selecting players and appointing third umpires had come to a halt. Such was the resistance that Mohan found the office doors locked on his first day. But the board's task was made easier when the Supreme Court then stayed the High Court order.

The Times of India also reported that in its latest ruling, the Supreme Court lashed out at the functioning of the board and the manner in which the elections were conducted. However, Dalmiya was oblivious to these obervations and remarked that the court's ruling were a vindication of his decisions. "My rulings as chairman of the meeting have been upheld," he said. "All my decisions have proved to be right."

He also indicated that being patron-in-chief wasn't an all-consuming passion for him. I have been ICC and BCCI president for a long time. I have achieved everything that I could have in cricket. This post isn't so meaningful for me at the moment."

Meanwhile, Dalmiya suggested that he would ask for a tax waiver from the Indian finance minister for the second relief match to be held for the tsunami victims. "The ICC has laid tax-exemption as one of the conditions [for hosting the match]."