Former BCCI president Anurag Thakur apologised “unconditionally” and “unequivocally” to the Supreme Court on Thursday and said it was not his intention to undermine the court’s authority.
“I humbly submit that it was never the intention of the deponent to undermine the majesty of this court and since unintentionally some kind of misinformation and miscommunication has occured, I unhesitatingly tender my unconditional and unequivocal apology to this court,” he said in his affidavit filed on Thursday.
The Supreme Court demanded an apology from Thakur, a senior BJP leader and a Member of Parliament from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, on July 7, indicating that its willingness to close the contempt proceedings against him. The court had told him to submit a “one-page short affidavit” with his apology, making it clear it would not consider his previous affidavit of apology.
Senior advocate PS Patwalia, Thakur’s lawyer, had told the court previously that his client would apologise even though he had a good case to prove that he did nothing wrong.
Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae (friend of court), had told the court that the apology should be unqualified and explicit.
The court had initiated contempt proceedings against Thakur on January 2 for a false affidavit he had submitted denying that he had asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a letter that would help the BCCI avoid implementing administrative reforms.
“The conduct of the President of BCCI in seeking a letter from the President of ICC in August 2016, after the final judgement and Order of this Court, is nothing but an attempt on the part of the head of BCCI to evade complying with the Order of this Court,” the court had said while issuing a show-cause notice to Thakur.
The court had dismissed Thakur and Ajay Shirke from the position of BCCI’s president and secretary on January 2 for interfering with its directions for overhaul in the cricket body.
Thakur made what he called an “unconditional and unqualified apology” to the Supreme Court on March 6.
On January 30, the court had appointed a four-member committee of administrators headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai to run BCCI’s affairs and implement court-approved recommendations of the Justice RM Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.
Three other members of the committee of administrators included historian Ramachandra Guha, Vikram Limaye, IDFC Managing Director and former Indian women cricket captain Diana Edulji. Guha quit the board last month citing personal reasons. PTI
