Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court Wednesday suspended the ad hoc committee running Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) and appointed Bhaskar A Sawant, additional chief secretary in the state home department, as administrator of the cricket body.A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Maneesh Sharma directed Sawant to personally ensure that elections to the RCA Managing Committee are conducted and completed within three months. The court also ordered him to declare the election schedule and inform the bench before the next hearing on July 29.The bench said all District Cricket Associations will remain answerable to the administrator and function under his overall supervision and control until a regular elected committee takes charge. The directions came during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by Rajiv Pratap Singh.The high court also suspended the June 26 order issued under Section 24(1)(A) of the Rajasthan Sports (Registration, Recognition and Regulation of Associations) Act, 2005. Through that order, the tenure of the ad hoc committee, which was to end on June 27, 2026, was extended with earlier directions to conduct elections within three months.Taking a stern view of non-compliance, the bench directed the registrar, Cooperative Societies, Rajasthan, to remain personally present on the next date of hearing and explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.The court noted that it earlier asked the registrar to explain what action was taken against members of the ad hoc committee for failing to hold elections, but he did not comply with the court’s orders. Petitioner’s counsel Peush Nag said the registrar’s orders allowed the ad hoc committee to continue through repeated extensions. Nag said, “The tenure of ad hoc committee was extended at least eight or nine times in two and a half years.”
