India’s cricketing fraternity waits with bated breath to see the line of action the Supreme Court will take on Monday in relation to the objections the BCCI had raised against the recommendations the Lodha Committee had made as part of its “reforms in cricket” report.
The Board’s main argument has been that all of the recommendations, if implemented, would lead to a collapse of cricket administration in the country.
The Lodha Committee, on its part, has told the Supreme Court more than once, and by enumerating the sequence of events, that the BCCI’s office-bearers were stalling the implementation of its recommendations.
In its third Status Report dated November 14, the Lodha Committee had petitioned the Supreme Court to (1) disqualify the present office-bearers of the BCCI and the State Associations, (2) appoint former Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai as the BCCI Observer, (3) direct all administrative and management matters to be carried out by the CEO without bringing anything to the attention of the office-bearers, and (4) give directions that may be deemed fit for the implementation of its order of July 18, approving a majority of the Lodha Committee proposals, and giving the BCCI between four and six months to implement them.
Interestingly, Vidarbha already has a new body in place as per the Lodha recommendations, while Tripura and Hyderabad have announced their intention to follow the recommendations.
The main points among the proposals the Board had issues with are as follows: (1) the one-state, one-member, one-vote rule, (2) the age-limit of 70 to contest elections, (3) limiting office bearers’ term to three years, an immediate cooling-off period of three years and a maximum tenure for nine years in office, (4) giving representation to male and female players in the apex council and funding a players’ association, (5) having a nominee of the CAG in the apex council, (6) curtailing the powers of the Secretary, and vesting a CEO with the same, (7) disbanding virtually all sub-committees and (8) limiting selection committees to just three members.
It will be interesting to see what the Supreme Court has to say on these issues.
