SC lifts ban on Anurag Thakur from taking part in BCCI affairs

By its January 2 order, a three-judge SC bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had “arrived at the conclusion that” Anurag Thakur “has by his actions and conduct rendered himself unfit for continuance as President of BCCI”.

The court attributed three reasons for this.

It said he had “obstructed and impeded the implementation of the directions contained in the” SC judgment of July 18, 2016, by which the top court accepted the recommendations made by the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee in “providing for reforms in the structure, organisation and working of BCCI.”

The SC had also said that he ‘is liable to be proceeded with for contempt of court for having obstructed and impeded” its orders and directed that a show cause notice be issued to him.

The court was also of the view that Thakur “made statements on affidavit before this Court which are false to his knowledge” and ordered that a show cause notice be issued to him on this count too.

What had irked the SC was Thakur’s alleged request to the then ICC President Shashank Manohar to issue a letter saying that the court’s decision to appoint a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the BCCI’s apex committee, “would amount to governmental interference and would invoke an action of suspension from ICC”.

The SC said that it had already rejected the argument while delivering the July 18, 2016 judgement.