Niranjan Shah becomes new addition in Special Committee of BCCI

Veteran cricket administrator Mr. Niranjan Shah has recently been added the Special Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The committee has been formed by the BCCI in their recent Special General Meeting (SGM). The SGM was conducted to discuss the various implementations or the proposed implementations of the several administrative reforms ordered by the Supreme Court of India.

Back in July 2016, the apex Indian court had ordered several administrative reforms to the Indian cricket board after the recommendations made by the Lodha Panel that the court had appointed. The BCCI was reluctant to get ahead with the reforms that were put forth by the court. Since then, the Indian cricket board has been at the loggerheads with the court and Lodha panel over the implementations of the reforms.

While the board is keen on implementing some of the reforms, there are others that they are not happy with. In order to review the recommendations made by the court, the BCCI had formed a special committee to identify the critical points in the implementation of the Lodha Panel recommendations. The committee comprises of 8 members. It is headed by the veteran administrator of BCCI and the IPL Chief Rajeev Shukla.

Ineligibility of Niranjan Shah

Now, Niranjan Shah has been added to the committee as a guest member. Interestingly, if the Lodha reforms are to be implemented, then Niranjan Shah will not be eligible to hold any position in the administration. One of the recommendations clearly puts an upper limit cap on the age limit for the office bearers – which is 70 years. Mr. Shah is over that limit.

Also, another recommendation suggests that a person can serve the office for a maximum of 9 years, which Shah has already done. The first meeting of the Special Committee will take place at New Delhi on July 1, 2017. The Supreme Court hearing on this matter will be on July 14.