The chairman of the three-member Supreme Court Committee that recommended radical reforms in cricket, former Chief Justice of India (CJI) R.M. Lodha is confident that the changes will take place at the Board of Control for Cricket in India and at the State associations. “Just wait for January 19. I believe as soon as the administrators are appointed by the Supreme Court and they take over, things will move fast.’’
When asked to share the committee’s thoughts when the BCCI and its full member associations refused to follow the first timelines, Justice Lodha said: “The first timelines have gone haywire. They are not relevant now. But better late than never; of course there is a delay of six months. But I think that will be repaired. There has to be (fresh timelines), but that will be done by the administrators. We said we don’t have that much of time, and that there has to be layers of administrators. Wait for a while. The changes will happen. We will be there to supervise and guide the administrators.”
When told that a former India cricketer felt that the posts (office-bearers and managing committee positions) should be made most unattractive, Justice Lodha said: “Do your best and leave it for others to come. Given opportunities the new people will come out with new ideas. The infusion of new blood always brings new thinking, thought processes and new ideas.’’
With the final order of PIL made on July 18, Justice Lodha said there was no scope for discussions and negotiations.
“We had spoken to all office-bearers, the late Jagmohan Dalmiya, Anurag Thakur, Anirudh Chaudhry, Amitabh Choudhary, Shashank Manohar and six former India captains — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev and Bishan Singh Bedi.’’
When asked if he saw the India-England first ODI at Pune on Sunday, a smiling Justice Lodha said: “ Kya jabardasth match hua (what a tremendous match). Now no score is safe. Twenty20 has brought all these changes.’’
Justice Lodha spoke on the sidelines of the release of a book on the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of legal genius Nani Palkhivala. The book ‘Nani Palkhivala — God’s Gift to India,’ a biography written by Dr. Dharmendra Bhandari.
