The High Court on Sunday declared the amendment to the constitution of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) 'illegal'.
The HC bench of Justice Sarah Mahbub and Justice Abdur Rab, while delivering the verdict, also said that the National Sports Council (NSC) has no authority to amend the constitution of the BCB.
The verdict came following a petition jointly filed by Yousuf Jamil Babu, president of the Bangladesh District and Divisional Sports Organisers' Association, and Mobasher Hossain, a former BCB director, on December 13.
“The NSC on November 29, 2012 through a letter sent an amended constitution to the BCB. That letter along with the amendments has been declared null and void, said Mahbub Shafique, lawyer of the petitioners.
“As per article 26 of the BCB constitution the NSC has no authority to amend the constitution. And according to article 11.1, they have the authority to approve the proposed amendments sent to them by the BCB,” he added.
The High Court's order implies that the amended constitution of 2008 -- the previous uncontested constitution -- has been upheld. In November last year, the NSC made four major amendments to the BCB constitution after rejecting some questionable amendments adopted in a BCB EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) in March 1 last year.
In the amendments, the NSC increased its directorship in the BCB from one to three, increased the councillorship of the six 'Super Six' Premier Division clubs from one to two, inserted the clause of electing a BCB president through the votes of BCB directors (there are 27 directors according to the amended BCB constitution 2012) and added a paragraph in the article 9.1 (KA) and (KHA) which read: But on condition that former cricketers/cricket organisers will get priority while selecting councillors from every regional cricket association and will be nominated by the president of that district/divisional sports association.
The petitioners claimed that the NSC illegally brought the amendments that contradicted the BCB constitution, where the article 26 clearly stated that any amendment should be passed in an EGM with a two-third majority.
Kobirul Hasan, the law officer of the NSC, stated that they would appeal against the High Court's verdict today.