SC appoints former judge Justice D.K. Jain as BCCI ombudsman

The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed retired judge of the court Justice D.K. Jain as the first ombudsman under the new BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) Constitution approved by the court in a judgment on August 9 last.

Bringing a quietus to the quibbling between the Committee of Administrators (CoA) which runs the BCCI and the State bodies that form the Board, a Bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and A.M. Sapre decided to take things into their own hands on the advice of amicus curiae and senior advocate P.S. Narasimha.

"Does anyone have a problem with us appointing an ombudsman? We have the names of six retired Supreme Court judges with us," Justice Bobde asked the lawyers representing the parties in the courtroom.

The court had to intervene after State associations, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, said they would not have a BCCI run by the CoA "foist an ombudsman on us". They initially said the appointment of an ombudsman could wait till the BCCI election.

But when the court passed on to them a list of the six names, they unanimously agreed on Justice Jain, who was requested by the court to take over as ombudsman "as soon as possible".

A CoA report filed recently in the Supreme Court pushed home the advantage of having an ombudsman - who should either be a retired Supreme Court judge or a former Chief Justice of a High Court to be appointed for a year - under the new BCCI Constitution to resolve internal disputes.

Courtesy : The Hindu