Supreme Court appoints third member of COA, DK Jain as BCCI ombudsman

Thodge, who is likely to attend CoA meeting in New Delhi on Friday, further said that he hopes to live up to what is expected out of him. “I hope I can live up to whatever is expected of me. I have been actively involved in sporting activities during my time in the Indian Army. But yes, this is my first foray into sports administration,” he said.

According to his profile on a defence portal, Thodge, a Param Vishisht Seva Medal awardee, has been involved in counter-insurgency operations in Punjab, North East and Jammu and Kashmir. He was commissioned into 1st Gorkha Rifles in 1977 and commanded the regiment’s 5th Battalion during the Kargil war.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and A M Sapre appointed Thodge after senior advocate P S Narasimha, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, told the apex court that two members of the CoA have resigned. This was after the Apex court also chose Justice (retd.) DK Jain as the BCCI ombudsman. Justice Jain will look into the Hardik Pandya-KL Rahul talk-show controversy and decide the appropriate punishment as well as look into the disputes between state cricket associations in the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Pandya and Rahul were initially handed suspension after their comments made on a popular TV show caused a controversy for their sexist and racist nature. The ban was later lifted pending the appointment of an Ombudsman.

Other than deciding the quantum of punishment for the pair, the appointed BCCI ombudsman will also look into allegations of misconduct against BCCI officials. DK Jain, who was the former chairman of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, will resume charge as soon as possible.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and A M Sapre also expressed displeasure over differences among BCCI Committee of Administrators and agreed to appoint a 3rd member to CoA, adding that they had a name in mind for the 3rd CoA member.

The Court also asked Amicus Curiae Sr Adv P S Narasimha to advise CoA members of which Diana Edulji and Vinod Rai are members, not to fight in open.

The previous BCCI ombudsman was Justice (retd.) AP Shah who worked for one season after his appointment in December 2015. The post has been vacant since then and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) had been asking the court for directions on a new appointment since Justice Shah’s departure.

(With inputs from PTI)