New Delhi, Sep 16 The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed former Patna High Court judge Justice Ashwani Kumar Singh as the administrator of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA).
Last month, the top court had appointed former chief justice of the Orissa High Court, Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, as the administrator of the BCA.
However, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan took note of a letter by the former Orissa High Court judge expressing difficulty in taking the role due to some personal reasons.
The top court also restrained the present BCA board from holding the annual general meeting till the new administrator takes over.
The apex court had earlier taken note of a report filed by former Supreme Court judge Justice L Nageswara Rao, who was appointed the ombudsman of the BCA last August.
The bench, which said the report was “quite exhaustive”, noted the conclusion and final recommendations of the report.
It said in the recommendations, the ombudsman suggested that an administrator be appointed and he be tasked with conducting a verification exercise across all district cricket associations (DCAs).
The bench noted that the ombudsman also made recommendations concerning fresh elections.
“Several discrepancies about the electoral college have been enumerated above. In light thereof, the elections of BCA conducted in 2025 cannot be deemed to have been conducted freely and fairly,” the ombudsman said.
The ombudsman recommended that after the administrator completes the task of verifying the DCA clubs, the BCA's electoral college should be recalibrated and elections to the DCAs and BCA should be conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the state cricket body and the various DCAs.
“In view of the aforesaid, we appoint Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, former chief justice of the Orissa High Court, to act as an administrator of the Bihar Cricket Association,” the top court said in its August 20 order.
“The administrator shall proceed further in accordance with what has been recommended by the ombudsman as contained in Paragraph 91 (about fresh elections) of the recommendations,” it said.
The bench noted that there were some objections insofar as the ombudsman's report was concerned, and that it would look into it at an appropriate time.
“As an interim measure, we direct that the recommendations shall come into force forthwith and be implemented,” it said.
The bench, which was dealing with a matter related to the BCA, posted it for further hearing on October 8.
While appointing Justice Rao as the ombudsman last August, the top court had requested him to have a formal meeting with the stakeholders and try to work out the modalities for smooth functioning of the association.
In its March 20 order, the top court noted that Justice Rao had forwarded his exhaustive report along with a separate note.
It noted that Justice Rao made a request that he may be relieved from the assignment.
“In view of the request made by Justice L Nageswara Rao, we relieve him of the assignment,” the top court said in its March 20 order.
In April this year, the court appointed former apex court judge Justice Deepak Gupta as the BCA ombudsman.
