Shetty ineligible to contest as MCA alters election rules

The Mumbai Cricket Association has changed its eligibility rules for contesting its forthcoming elections, a move which is widely seen to prevent senior administrator Prof Ratnakar Shetty from regaining his place in its managing committee.
The managing committee of MCA, at its meeting last night, has taken a decision that debars anyone who is a paid employee of its parent body Cricket Board, including the National Cricket Academy, and coaches or employees of various IPL franchisees, from the elections, a top source told PTI today.
"The decision to debar such persons from contesting the elections has been taken. As for the date of the elections it will be decided once the hearing on the court case filed by Prof Shetty, which is coming up tomorrow, is over," the source said.

Shetty, who is employed by the BCCI as its general manager (game development), has filed a case against MCA's earlier decision to ban him for five years from all the association's activities, after he had raised the possibility of some office bearers having sold tickets of the T20 International between India and Pakistan at Ahmedabad in December last in the black market.
He contented in his petition in the city civil court that the managing committee had no powers vested in it to ban him and has also sought Rs 50 lakhs as damages for tarnishing his reputation.
Shetty, associated with the MCA for over three decades in various capacities including as vice president, has already been replaced by the Wilson College Gymkhana by another person as its representative in the MCA.

Meanwhile, there is a strong possibility of former BCCI and ICC chief, Sharad Pawar returning to the helm of MCA at the elections.
He has been showing a lot of interest in becoming the president again, according to various sources in the know-how, and has already changed his residence from Baramati to Mumbai to conform to MCA's eligibility criterion.