Poor cricket from BCCI in Sikkim

Gangtok, May 4: The BCCI has drawn flak from Sikkim High Court for the delay in granting a full membership to the state cricket association.
On May 1, Chief Justice A.N. Roy dismissed the cricket board’s application for more time to settle the matter and also came down heavily on the cricket board for its tardiness.
“It is well known to all Indians that there might be a lot of money with the BCCI but they have no cricket. Why they should hesitate to grant membership to a state cricket association without there being any state rivals, is not understood,” the chief justice said in the order.
The cricket board may also be charged with contempt of court for not complying with an earlier order, which directed it to consider and dispose of the membership issue within three months, ending on March 14, 2007.
The chief justice observed that the BCCI had promised to send a team to Sikkim for inspection before making a decision regarding the full membership plea. “This visit has not yet taken place,” he said.
The chief justice added that the BCCI should have arranged matches between top Indian sides and the best team Sikkim could muster well before March 14 and resolved the membership issue on the basis of the result. “But now the time has gone by,” he said.
The cricket board, on its part, has said it could not meet the deadline because it was busy with tournaments and other matters.
However, BCCI officials can breathe easy because, as the chief justice said, the high court usually dose not issue rules of contempt suo motu. At the same time, the chief justice added, Sikkim Cricket Association (SCA) had the liberty to file a contempt case against the BCCI in the court.
Last year in September, the SCA had filed a writ petition in the high court alleging that the BCCI was not granting it full membership though it had completed the three-year regulation period as an associate member of the cricket board way back in 1996.
(The Telegraph)