London: Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik who was not selected in the Indian squad for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final that will be played between India and New Zealand at Lords starting 18 June will however be a part of the historic first ICC WTC Final.

Karthik who last played for India in the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup will not be seen on the field during the play of the game but will be voicing commentary for the broadcasters of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) along with other commentators of the panel. Other commentators on the panel of WTC Final include Sunil Gavaskar, Kumar Sangakarra, Nasser Hussain, Simon Doull, Isa Guha, Ian Bishop, Michael Atherton, and Craig McMillan.

Karthik has also signed up for the ECB panel of commentators for their pet project 'The Hundred'. The inaugural edition of the tournament will be played from July 22 to August 21.

The wicket-keeper batsman has come out of isolation in the Serbian capital of Belgrade along with Sunil Gavaskar. Now they will head to Southampton for their duties in the WTC Finals.

Recently, Karthik, who made his India debut way back in 2004, was quoted as saying he is hopeful of India team recall, revealing that his ultimate goal is to help India win at least one of the two upcoming World Cups.

After 'The Hundred' tournament, the 34-years-old will head to the United Arab Emirates for his field duties in the second phase of the Indian Premier League starting September 19.

He racked up 123 runs at an average of 30.75 in seven games he played in the first phase of the IPL 2021. KKR lost five out of their first seven games and in order to qualify and keep the faith in their hand the team has to win six of the next seven games.

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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday said the high court would decide whether the elected gram panchayat members, whose five-year tenure was over in Manipur, were entitled to continue in their posts in the event of the appointment of an administrative committee or an administrator.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said it would like to have the benefit of the view of the high court in the matter and set a three-month time frame to adjudicate the legal question.

"The question that falls for consideration in this case is that whether the elected member of the Gram Panchayat whose five-year tenure is over was entitled to continue as members of the gram panchayat in the event of appointment of administrative committee or administrator, as contemplated under Section 22 of the Manipur Panchayati Raj Act of 1994," the bench noted.

The Manipur government’s counsel said the state could not hold panchayat elections due to the unprecedented violence.

"Since, we would like to have the advantage of the opinion of the high court, we dispose of the special leave petition without expressing any opinion on merits, with the request to the chief justice of Manipur High Court to post the main case before a division bench at the earliest. We further request the division bench, before whom the matter is listed, to provide expeditious hearing with an endeavour to resolve the controversy within three months," the bench said.

The bench noted that provision of Manipur Panchayati Raj Act was amended to substitute the word "cease" with the word "continue" with respect to the tenure of the elected members of the gram panchayat.

The petitioners have challenged a high court order and submitted that since elections in gram panchayat could not be held in Manipur for various reasons, the previously elected members of the panchayat were entitled to continue as per the amended Section 22 (3) of 1994 Act.

Section 22 deals with the power of deputy commissioner to appoint an administrative committee or an administrator for a period of six months, which will then oversee the election.

Section 22 (3) of the law says once the administrative committee or an administrator is appointed by the deputy commissioner, the elected members of earlier gram panchayat shall cease to exist.

The top court said what has been challenged before it was an interlocutory order of the high court and the main petition in which the question of law that had been raised was still pending.

The original petitioners before the high court were elected representatives at the fifth general elections for gram panchayats and the zilla parishads who sought a direction to continue in the office beyond the period of five years as stipulated by law as elections were last held in 2017.

They sought to continue as panchayat members till the time the state election commission notified the election for the sixth general elections for gram panchayats and zilla parishads.

On February 29, last year, the high court in its interim order gave liberty to Manipur government to appoint an administrative committee for each gram panchayat and zilla parishad in accordance with law and the provision of the Act.