TN registrar should not permit BCCI AGM postponement: Verma

Aditya Verma, a petitioner in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) scandal case, Friday requested the Inspector General of Registration of Tamil Nadu to make sure that the Indian cricket board is not allowed to defer its Annual General Meeting (AGM) -- a step that is aimed at facilitating ousted chief N. Srinivasan's bid to recontest for the presidential post in the election which otherwise is generally held in September-end.

IANS had reported Thursday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a registered body under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, is likely to approach the Registrar of Societies seeking a three-month extension for convening its AGM.

"It is a pray(er) that in any view of the matter (of) the scheduled meeting of the AGM of the BCCI as its rules and regulations to be held in the third week of September, 2014 or before 30th September, 2014, should not be deferred. It is anticipated that from your end the endeavour certainly will be in the favour so that the scheduled meeting of the AGM may be held in time in the interest of integrity of the BCCI," Verma's lawyer wrote in the letter.

The letter also pointed out that in the 86 years of BCCI, the AGM has never been postponed.

"In the past for the last 86 years, there is not even a single instance when the scheduled meeting of the AGM has even been shifted or deferred. But my client has information from reliable sources that some officials of the BCCI in connivance with the interim president of the BCCI, who presently is working under order of the Supreme Court, have conspired to defer the scheduled meeting of the AGM in order to provide gain to the then president N. Srinivasan, whose role in IPL 6 scam is under investigation of Mudgal Commission constituted by the Supreme Court," the letter added.

The ploy of AGM postponement is sought to be resorted to by the BCCI to defer elections since the Supreme Court earlier this week ignored pleas to reinstate Srinivasan as its president. It also gave two more months to the Mukul Mudgal Committee to submit the final report in the spot-fixing and betting scandal in the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The scam involved 13 people, including some prominent cricketers.

The BCCI elections are slated to be held by the end of this month since Srinivasan, who has also been elected as the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman, was elected unopposed for a third year in office Sep 29 last year.

For the AGM and subsequent elections, the BCCI first will have to call a working committee meeting by giving a notice of seven days. The working committee will have to convene the AGM giving another notice of 14 days.