Former BCCI chief Anurag Thakur files petition with Supreme Court asking for ‘his side of story’ to be heard

Source – firstpost.com

It has been a year and eight months since Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke were ousted by the Supreme Court of India from the posts of BCCI president and secretary respectively for trying to hinder the implementation of the Lodha reforms.

After spending all this time on the sidelines, Thakur has decided to approach the Supreme Court in order to get “his side of the story heard”, and possibly reverse the Court’s decision that was taken on 2 January, 2017.

According to a report on Cricketnext, Thakur has filed a petition with the apex court, stating that he was unrepresented when he was sacked from his position. He added that he had carried out his responsibilities as an administrator with distinction since 2000, first with the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) and then with the BCCI.

The former Himachal Pradesh chief minister added that his ouster from BCCI caused him a great deal of embarrassment, and that he has been under public scrutiny ever since.

In his petition, Thakur hoped that the current bench comprising of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud will hear him out at least once, with his pleas to the previous bench failing to get him any form of representation in the proceedings.

In a landmark judgement on 18 July, 2016, the Supreme Court had passed most of the reforms suggested by the Lodha committee. The Court had, shortly after setup the Committee of Administrators (CoA), led by the former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the reforms.

The BCCI though, was unwilling to implement the reforms, and had at one point tried to get the Shashank Manohar-led ICC involved in the matter. After Thakur’s ouster, the board was briefly headed by Rai, before CK Khanna took over as the caretaker chief.