SC asks BCCI to fall in line with Lodha panel recommendations

PTI NEW DELHI, FEBruary 4 The Supreme Court today gave a stern message to BCCI asking it to “fall in line” with the recommendations of Justice R M Lodha Committee which has suggested a massive restructuring of the country’s apex cricket body. The apex court said the recommendations are “straight, rational and understandable” and “deserve respect” and “there is no reason to disagree with the committee” which has the most “illuminated and respected members of the legal community”. While four weeks time was granted to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to respond on the implementation of the recommendations of the Lodha Committee, the court made it clear that since ample opportunity was given to all stakeholders over a long period and their views were taken into consideration before preparing the final report, there should not be any difficulty in accepting the recommendations. The remarks by a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur came after senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, representing BCCI, said there was a need to consult the 30-odd members of the Board on the recommendations and in view of its legal committee’s meeting on February 7, four weeks be allowed to respond. Senior advocate Indu Malhotra, appearing for Cricket Association of Bihar, read out a portion of the Lodha panel report saying that it was not only an articulate and logical analysis of BCCI affairs but also presented very effective and logical solutions to weed out the rot in the cash-rich body. The bench agreed with several recommendations, including that no state should be allowed to have two cricket boards as was prevalent in Maharashtra, Gujarat and a few others. However, Naphade said there was a history behind having more than one cricket board in some states and resolving those issues based on the Lodha panel report may give rise to political problems. Malhotra said BCCI was not in line with the recommendation on the issue of appointment of an ombudsman. The bench also agreed with the report that there was no need of representation of vice presidents from all the five zones and there should be one state, one vote, three-year cooling off period after every tenure, restricted tenures for office-bearers, no more proxy voting and pruning of number of vice-presidents from five to one. Further, it was in agreement with the Committee that a person should not be allowed to consecutively hold office and the maximum period should not exceed more than nine years. The apex court-appointed Lodha Committee on January 4 recommended sweeping reforms and an administrative shake-up for the troubled BCCI by suggesting that ministers be barred from occupying positions, a cap put on the age and tenure of the office-bearers and legalisation of betting. In a series of drastic recommendations, the three-member panel, also comprising former apex court judges -- Ashok Bhan and R V Raveendran also suggested that one unit should represent only one state, while taking away the voting rights of institutional and city-based units. It suggested restructuring of the BCCI’s administrative set-up, proposing the position of a CEO to run daily affairs of the Board accountable to a nine-member apex council. Among the most sensational suggestions by the Lodha panel was the one on legalising betting. It felt that the move would help curb corruption in the game and recommended that except for players and officials, people should be allowed to place bets on registered websites. Among other steps, panel said that to ensure transparency in the BCCI’s functioning, it was important to bring the body under the purview of the RTI Act, something that the Board has vehemently opposed in the past citing its autonomy. Another important decision taken by the committee was to clear former IPL COO Sundar Raman, who was alleged to have contacts with bookies. The panel said there was not enough evidence to indict Raman.