Rajasthan HC quashes Bavani Samota's appointment in BCCI

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday passed an order restraining Bavani Samota, a close aide of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) president C.P. Joshi, from acting as the point person of RCA with the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI).

Justice M.N. Bhandari passed the order on an application moved by RCA secretary R.S. Nandu and Treasurer Pinkesh Jain.

The appointment was challenged on the ground that Samota does not hold any office in the RCA or its affiliate districts. He is not even a member of the RCA.

During the hearing, the court asked as to why Samota was nominated in the first place, against the provisions of the RCA constitution.

The court directed RCA to withdraw the nomination of Samota and all communications with BCCI should be led by the President of RCA, until May 19, when the last IPL game is played in Jaipur.

The court also directed RCA to make payment of salaries to employees forthwith as ordered by the court on an earlier date.

With regard to the petitioner's grievance about the unfair manner of distribution of complimentary passes, the court ordered that no passes should be given to RCA president.

Instead, a court-appointed reputed player of Rajasthan will collect the passes from Rajasthan Royals team and distribute them.

Under the venue agreement between RCA, BCCI and the franchise, RCA is allocated 10 percent of the passes for each game.