Calcutta HC stays Dalmiya‘s expulsion; says he can contest polls

Kolkata -- The Calcutta High Court on Friday stayed the expulsion and suspension order of Jagmohan Dalmiya, which was issued by the BCCI on December 17, 2006, paving the way for him to contest in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) elections to be held next week.

Delivering the verdict in Dalmiya‘s favour, Justice Indira Banerjee observed that the former BCCI and ICC president is now free to contest elections to any cricket body and can also participate in any board meeting.

The court said that the rule under which he was suspended was not registered, so it was illegal.

The timing of the verdict is significant as filing of nominations for the CAB elections to be held on July 28 closes this evening.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had suspended Dalmiya in December last year following allegations of embezzling funds during the 1996 World Cup held in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Following his suspension, Dalmiya resigned as CAB president, and Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee was elected unopposed to the p

ost.

After his expulsion, the anti-Dalmiya lobby had claimed he could no longer function as CAB president as per the article 38 (V) of the BCCI Constitution, which debars a person expelled from the board from being associated in any capacity with any affiliate unit.

Dalmiya‘s expulsion was cleared at a Special General Body meeting of the BCCI in Jaipur on December 16, where 29 members of the board voted in favour of expelling him. Two members voted against the move.

Dalmiya was accused of misappropriating Rs. 21.74 lakhs from PILCOM, the organising committee of the 1996 World Cup and running up lakhs of rupees in phone bills.

Dalmiya, a former president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), was suspended from the board‘s membership by its Disciplinary Committee on April 9.

Born in Kolkata on May 30, 1940, Dalmiya is a well-known cricket administrator. He studied at the Scottish Church College in Kolkata.

He started his association with cricket as a wicketkeeper in cricket clubs, including his college team in Calcutta and had once made a double-century.

He joined the BCCI in 1979 and became its treasurer in 1983 - the year India won the Cricket World Cup. Later, along with Inderjit Singh Bindra, he helped to win the right to stage the World Cup in South Asia in 1987 and 1996.

He has been the President of BCCI several times. He was unanimously elected chairman of the ICC in 1997 for a period of three years.

In 1996, the BBC declared him to be one of the world‘s top six sports executives.

When Australia and West Indies refused to play in terror-scarred Sri Lanka during the 1996 World Cup, he conjured up a united India-Pakistan team in a matter of days to play friendlies against Sri Lanka there.

In 1991, when the boycott of South Africa officially ended, he arranged a tour of the South African cricket team to India that went a long way in helping them shed the stigma of apartheid.

In 2005, he was presented with the International Journal of the History of Sports Achievement award for administrative excellence in global sport. (ANI)