The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday suspended amendments in the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) newly adopted 2019 constitution, restoring the previous status of regional and departmental cricket.

LHC Judge Justice Shahid Mubeen signed the one-page decision, issuing a stay order till next date of hearing on Aug 27.

The petitioners — Munir Ahmed and Ahmed Nawaz — in their petition contended that the amendments were brought in the constitution without the approval of the PCB's board of governors.

Following the court order, Nagman Haider Zaidi — the counsel for the petitioners — said that the new constitution has been suspended as it limits the democratic forces. He claimed that the new constitution pushes elected people against the wall and runs affairs in a dictatorial manner.

Zaidi expressed hope that after suspension of the amendments to the constitution, a no-trust motion would be floated against PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani on August 30.

Earlier on Wednesday, the PCB had announced that its new constitution had come into effect on August 19.

The new constitution had split the office of the chairman and the chief executive, with the managing director of the PCB redesignated as the chief executive.

Under the previous constitution, the existing board of governors of the PCB was supposed to continue for a period until, at least, four members of the BoG are notified from among a pool of seven members (three cricket associations and four independent members).

The new regulations were supposed to change the composition of the BoG to include three members who are presidents of the cricket associations (on a rotation basis), two members nominated by the patron, four independent members, including at least one female member, the chief executive of the PCB, and federal secretary of the Ministry of IPC as ex-officio (non-voting) member.

Under the new system, 16 regional cricket associations had to be replaced by six cricket associations: Balochistan Cricket Association, Central Punjab Cricket Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cricket Association, Northern Cricket Association, Sindh Cricket Association and Southern Punjab Cricket Association.

Similarly, district cricket associations were supposed to be replaced by city cricket associations.

The general body, under the new constitution, had to be comprised of 11 members including the PCB chairman, president of each cricket association, president of the Blind Cricket Council and president of the Deaf and Dumb Cricket Association, while the chief executive officer and the chief operating officer would be ex-officio members.