Rajasthan sports council to handle RCA affairs - Court

The Jaipur High Court has asked the chairman of the Rajasthan State Sports Council to run the administrative affairs of the Rajasthan Cricket Association in the wake of a legal dispute between the Lalit Modi and Amin Pathan groups.

After hearing the writ petition filed by Modi and his aides against Pathan and his colleagues, Justice MN Bhandari passed an interim order, asking the state sports council chief to take over till the next hearing on November 14. The judge noted that taking into consideration various cases pending in the court, he had made the interim arrangement.

The judge also asked six individuals against whom Modi's faction had lodged a case last week to file a reply before the next hearing, but noted that the order did not mean "restoration" in power of Modi's group.

Both the sides expressed satisfaction with the court order. "The interim measure protects the interest of the association and Amin Pathan and his musclemen will have no say in the affairs of the association as it dislodges their illegal and unauthorised possession of the RCA and its properties and its affairs," Mehmood Abdi, the deputy president of the Modi group, said.

"The order makes it clear that those who have lost confidence of the RCA district units are neither being handed over the charge nor being allowed to enter the premises. We will respond to the notice and explain everything in detail," Pathan, who moved the no confidence motion against Modi, said.

The RCA was suspended in May by the BCCI after former IPL chairman Modi, who was banned by the BCCI last year for "committing acts of serious misconduct and indiscipline", was elected the association's president. The BCCI also suspended the RCA for allowing a banned individual to be a part of its affairs, and, later, omitted the various teams representing Rajasthan from its domestic programme for the domestic season.

That left the players anxious and confused of the their future, and eventually a petition was filed in the in the Rajasthan High Court on behalf of 75 Rajasthan cricketers, asking that they not be made to suffer "only for one reason, which is the grudge between the BCCI and the RCA". The court passed an interim order appointing selection committees to pick teams to represent the state in various BCCI domestic tournaments in 2014-15, but not under the usual banner of the RCA. While that came as a boost for the players, the impasse between the BCCI and the RCA continued. That was followed by Pathan's revolt, which led to Modi camp moving court against their ouster.