India cricketers KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the BCCI Committee of Administrators on Thursday removed their interim suspension orders with immediate effect.
The decision was taken after discussions with Amicus Curiae, Mr. P.S. Narasimha. The suspension orders dated 11.01.2019 will be immediately lifted pending appointment and adjudication of the allegations by the BCCI Ombudsman.
The CoA issued a statement which read: “The Committee of Administrators (“CoA”) had, by emails dated 11.01.2019, and in exercise of Rule 41(6) of the Constitution of BCCI, suspended Mr. Hardik Pandya and Mr. K.L. Rahul in view of the allegations of misconduct against them, pending adjudication of the allegations under Rule 46 of the approved BCCI Constitution.
“Since the adjudication of all allegations of misconduct against any cricketer registered with, inter alia, the BCCI is required to be undertaken by the BCCI Ombudsman, whose appointment is pending directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the CoA is the of the view that the interim suspension orders dated 11.01.2019 should be presently lifted with immediate effect. The above matter and decision has been taken with the concurrence of the Learned Amicus Curiae, Mr. P.S. Narasimha.
In view of the above, the suspension orders dated 11.01.2019 is immediately lifted pending appointment and adjudication of the allegations by the BCCI Ombudsman.”
Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul came under fire for certain comments they made during their appearance on the show ‘Koffee with Karan’. The duo was criticised as the comments were seen to be disrespectful towards women.
They were suspended for an indefinite period for their comments. The duo was asked for an explanation about their alleged misconduct and indiscipline to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“From the Indian cricket team point of view, any inappropriate comments that are made in that scenario are something that we definitely don’t support and the two concerned players felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude of what’s happened,” Kohli said at the SCG ahead of the opening ODI against Australia.
“Definitely it has to hit anyone hard, they will definitely understand the things that have not gone right,” he added.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, a senior BCCI functionary rued the delay in decision making and said that if the decision had been made even a couple of days earlier, Rahul could have played in Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy knockout game that started on Thursday.
“If they had dealt with this matter in a pragmatic manner, the Ombudsman would have been decided by now and the proceedings may have been over. I only wish they had decided this yesterday. KL could have turned out for Karnataka in the Ranji knockouts,” he said.