Court directs BCCI not to deny GCA voting right

Sandesh Prabhudesai

The Panaji Judicial Magistrate First Class court in Goa on Friday directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India not to deny the Goa Cricket Association its right to vote at the board's annual general meeting in Madras on Saturday.

Following an application, moved by the GCA through its president Dayanand Narvekar, the court gave the BCCI the option of allowing the GCA to vote by secret ballot and sealing the same till the case is disposed.

The next hearing is fixed for October 12.

On the basis of media reports, that the GCA would not be allowed to vote at the AGM as it is involved in a legal dispute following the tickets scam in the April 6 one-day international between India and Australia, Narvekar moved the court, seeking ex-parte relief by way of a temporary injunction to the BCCI to restrain it from denying voting rights to the GCA .

While pleading for ex-parte relief, Narvekar's counsel Subodh Kantak claimed that neither any dues to the BCCI nor an inquiry is pending or show cause notice has been served, due to which the GCA could be denied its voting right.

BCCI counsel Vilas Thali, who appeared at the last minute, contended that the plea has no meaning since the GCA had nothing in writing to prove the contention. He, however, expressed his inability to present the BCCI version, stating that no official was available on phone.

Narvekar, in the meanwhile, sent GCA secretary Vinod Fadke to the AGM, authorising him to cast the GCA vote.

"He will go and vote on behalf of the GCA," he said.

The matter of who is the GCA secretary is, however, presently pending before the BCCI, with two groups appointing three different people as secretary after the court had debarred Narvekar and Fadke from functioning for some time following the ticket scam.

Narvekar said some BCCI members were responsible for spreading the rumours that the GCA would not be allowed to vote. "It is a fallout of the infighting within the BCCI and I am not part of any particular group," he clarified.

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