SC replaces Nariman with Anil Divan for suggesting new BCCI officials

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman, who was asked to assist the Supreme Court in nominating persons of impeccable integrity for the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) new Committee of Administrators, on Tuesday withdrew from the case.

Following his withdrawal, the apex court appointed advocate Anil B. Divan as the amicus curiae to oversee the matter in the BCCI.

Earlier on Monday, the apex court had cracked the whip on BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke by removing them from their respective posts for their failure to bring transparency and accountability to the Indian cricket board and their non-compliance of the court's July 18, 2016 order.

The apex court also sought a reply from Thakur regarding perjury charges levelled against him by Subramaniam.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice T. S. Thakur had also said that the working of BCCI will be looked after by a committee of administrators and requested Nariman and senior advocate Gopal Subramanian, who was assisting in the matter as amicus curaie, to assist the court in nominating persons of impeccable integrity as the members in the committee of administrators.

The apex court had given two-week time to the advocates to complete the task with the matter to be again taken up on January 19.

On December 15, the top court had observed that Thakur prima facie appears to have committed matter of perjury in relation to demanding an intervention via a letter from the International Cricket Council (ICC) in order to sidestep the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations.

Earlier, in a landmark judgment on July 18, the apex court accepted major recommendations of Justice Lodha-led panel on structural reforms in the BCCI and had given six months deadline to the board to implement the recommendations.

On October 1, the board had accepted many of the "significant recommendations" of the Lodha Committee, but excluded the important ones which have been a bone of contention between the cricket body and the Lodha Panel.

The recommendations, which have still not been accepted by the 30-member committee, include one-state one-vote, age limit of 70 years, cooling-off period of three years which included the tenure of the administrators, continue with the five-selectors and retaining the powers of the president and secretary as per the earlier constitution of the board.