With Jay Shah taking over as the youngest chairman of the International Cricket Council on December 1, the role of secretary in the mighty BCCI is vacant and while officials wonder who could be the replacement, they have time to figure out the next course of action. After the constitutional amendment in 2022, the secretary is the most influential office-bearer in the BCCI, who has “all powers relating to cricketing and non-cricketing matters”, while the CEO works under his supervision. Shah was elected unopposed to the ICC's top position in August and stakeholders have since been wondering how the transition process will proceed.
Gujarat's Anil Patel and current BCCI joint secretary Devjit Saikia could replace Shah in the BCCI. The name of DDCA president Rohan Jaitley was also put forward but remained a mere speculation.
“We don't know what's happening. Everyone (BCCI officials and state units) is silent on the issue. Most likely, the joint secretary (Saikia) will be interim for the time being,” said a BCCI administrator.
“There are issues that need to be addressed on a daily basis and anyone coming in should have some knowledge about how the BCCI is run,” he added.
From the moment an elected office holder resigns, the board has 45 days to convene a Special General Meeting and elect his successor.
If you calculate the 45 days from the day Shah took over the reins of the ICC, the board has until mid-January to fill the position.
According to the Constitution, the BCCI must also appoint an election officer at least four weeks before the elections.
A senior official of the state unit said the administration has sufficient time to complete the transition.
“The transition should now be complete. The secretary must sign the majority of the documents. This issue should have been raised at the AGM (in September) but no one asked questions at that time,” the official said.
“There is currently a power vacuum in the BCCI, the most powerful cricketing body in the world,” added another state unit office-bearer.
With the current three-year term ending in September next year, the new secretary will be in charge for almost a year.
There is also no word yet on who the new BCCI representative on the ICC board would be. Shah also held that position and chairman Roger Binny is on the list of alternate directors.
IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal is India's representative on the ICC Chief Executives' Committee.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
Cricket
Jay Shah
International Cricket Council
BCCI
