BCCI’s review petition a desperate gamble?

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There is a certain irony about BCCI reviewing a decision. But like in the case of the Decision Review System that it opposes, filing a review petition against the reforms recommended by the Lodha Committee, and mandated by the Supreme Court, this can be seen as a desperate late review to waste minutes while trying to save a Test in dying light. Or perhaps there is a bigger gambit.

On the face of it, a review petition is the only legal recourse available to the BCCI. However, for it to have a chance to succeed, its legal team will have to persuade the same set of judges – in this case the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and a judge he nominates because his partner in this case, Ibrahim Kalifullah, has retired – of an apparent error in their judgment. And if they choose to admit the petition, it will be heard in private.

The BCCI, it is said, has been emboldened by the legal advice it has received from former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, who, in an extraordinary offensive, has called the Supreme Court’s decision “unconstitutional and illegal”. He has accused the Supreme Court of setting a bad precedent by assuming legislative powers in this case, or practising in “judicial activism” as it is known in legal circles.

Legal experts, however, point out this is not the first time the judiciary has ventured into drafting legislation, more popularly with the drafting of Visakha, a set of guidelines in cases of sexual harassment in India because at that time there was no such law in India.

As matters stand, the BCCI is poised to take Katju’s advice and miss the August 9 meeting with the Lodha Committee. That, and hiring Katju is being seen in legal circles as tantamount to waving the red rag to the judiciary for there is history between him and Justice RM Lodha. Katju has been in recent times an outspoken critic of the Indian judiciary. After taking over the chairmanship of the press council, he had public issues with Lodha, who recommended a two-year cooling-off period for retired judges before they took up government assignments.

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