The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the management of sports bodies by non-experts, saying that cricket associations should be led by retired cricketers rather than individuals who \u201cdo not even know how to handle a bat\u201d.<\/p>\n
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi refused to tinker with the Bombay High Court order that had stayed Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) election, originally scheduled for January 6, citing allegations of \u201cnepotism and favouritism\u201d.<\/p>\n
The bench was hearing pleas including the one filed by MCA against the high court order.<\/p>\n
During the proceedings, the CJI questioned the sudden surge in MCA\u2019s membership.<\/p>\n
Pointing to the records, the bench noted that the association had 164 members between 1986 and 2023, but saw a massive influx of new members immediately thereafter.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 1986 to 2023, you had 164 members, and from 2023 onwards, you made a bumper draw?\u201d the CJI asked.<\/p>\n
Representing the petitioners, including MCA and NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi submitted that a committee headed by a retired judge had overseen the process, rejecting 48 members while inducing others.<\/p>\n
He further alleged that the Charity Commissioner had appointed an administrator without consulting the cabinet.<\/p>\n
The CJI emphasised that if the association wanted to expand its membership to 300, those slots should have been reserved for renowned, retired international players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one country where outstanding cricketers are there; those who have retired were the best in line,\u201d the CJI said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are you bringing? Those who do not even know the game… do not even know how to handle a bat. Don\u2019t make us express our sentiments too much on what is happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The CJI further noted that sports associations exist because of the athletes, not the administrators.<\/p>\n
\u201cCricket is not because of (the authorities), it is because of the cricketers. The hockey association is known because of the hockey players. At least this much respect should be given to them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The legal battle began when former Indian cricketer and BJP leader Kedar Jadhav approached the Bombay High Court. Jadhav alleged that the voter list was being \u201crigged\u201d by the sudden addition of nearly 401 members.<\/p>\n
According to Jadhav\u2019s petition, many of the new inductees are close relatives or business associates of NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar.<\/p>\n
The bench allowed the petitioners to withdraw their pleas and directed them to raise all contentions before the Bombay High Court, which is scheduled to hear the matter on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe high court will consider the contentions and is requested to decide the matter expeditiously,\u201d the bench ordered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the management of sports bodies by non-experts, saying that cricket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,151326,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-406182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-bodies-should-have-ex-cricketers-and-not-those-who-do-not-know-how-to-hold-bat-sc","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}