New Delhi: Sixteen months ago, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court appointed Press Council of India chairman Justice C.K. Prasad (retd) to oversee elections in the state’s cricket body. But while no elections have been held yet, Prasad continues to hold the position, receiving remuneration of Rs 75,000 for every day that he spends working for the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
Alongside Prasad, the high court had appointed former Allahabad High Court judge Bashir-ud-Din in October 2017 to “act as administrators of the J&K Cricket Association to ensure free and fair elections”. Two months later, former police DIG Ashiq Bukhari was appointed CEO of the JKCA by the high court.
The high court’s appointments came after the JKCA’s office-bearers were disqualified according to the Lodha Committee recommendations, whose implementation was mandated by the Supreme Court in 2016. The office-bearers had also appointed an ombudsman, but the high court annulled his appointment as the people who selected him had themselves been disqualified.
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Rumblings in the JKCA
A source in the JKCA told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity that there were rumblings against the new administration because it had failed to do what it was appointed to do.
“They were appointed a-year-and-a-half ago to ‘temporarily’ oversee the body till elections were conducted. But the elections are just not in sight,” said the source.
“It is not the job of the judiciary to run cricket. Even the high court order said they were appointed to oversee elections… But they are postponing the elections indefinitely,” the source alleged.
However, Justice Prasad denied these allegations.
“We were expected to amend the constitution of the association in compliance with the Lodha Committee recommendations,” he said. “That has been done, and now the matter is before the Supreme Court to see if the amendments are fully in compliance.”
This, he said, was why the elections had not taken place yet.
The question of remuneration
According to the high court order, the two former judges are entitled to a remuneration of Rs 75,000 per day, in addition to the expenditure incurred on travel and stay.
“They don’t come very often… But when they do, they are given Rs 75,000 a day, and stay in Radisson Blue,” said the JKCA source.
Prasad himself brushed aside questions on remuneration. “I don’t quite remember how often I have gone to J&K… Sometimes I do the work on phone or mail, so it is not that I go every other day,” he said.
But can the PCI chairperson receive remuneration from another place? According to the Press Council of India Act, 1978, the chairperson of the quasi-judicial body is a full-time officer and is given a salary by the central government. However, there is no active prohibition on the chairperson obtaining remuneration from another place.
“There is no legal issue, especially because it is a court appointment… But there is a question of propriety,” a lawyer in the Supreme Court said on the condition of anonymity. “The High Court should look into the matter that if they were appointed to hold elections, why have the elections not taken place so far?”
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