Baroda Cricket Association asks Sanjay Patel to vacate position

Sanjay Patel

The Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) yesterday issued a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Patel, who is the joint-secretary of BCA, and three Managing Committee members (Dr Anantrao Patel, Kaushik Bhatt and Hemant Choksi), instructing them to vacate their positions.

Sanjay Patel

"The Managing Committee took a decision that these members have been un-lawfully co-opted and they cannot continue. We have issued a letter to them today," informed Anshuman Gaekwad, the other BCA joint-secretary, to mid-day.

The letters were issued after seeking legal opinion on the matter. According to BCA rules, one needs to be a member for three years before getting co-opted. Patel became a member of the BCA in 2000 and was co-opted in 2002 while the other three members were co-opted into the Managing Committee after the new committee was formed last December.

According to a BCA official, Patel has also not followed another regulation where a member has to serve two years as a sub-committee official before being eligible to contest elections for the post of an office-bearer or a place in the Managing Committee. Patel was unavailable for a comment.

It is however, learnt the BCA will allow these members a chance to justify their case before arriving at a conclusion. Patel and the other three members might challenge the BCA decision in court.