Apex Court to focus on CoA’s fifth status report

The heart, kidney and lungs are being taken out of these reforms: Lodha

Mincing no words: The CoA report, submitted by members Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji, said the BCCI and its affiliated associations had been in contempt of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, on Friday, will consider the fifth Status Report filed by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) with regard to implementation of the Lodha Committee reforms.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in CoA’s scathing observations on Wednesday, had been stalling all efforts to introduce the new administrative structure which insists on accountability and transparency.

The Apex Court had directed the BCCI to come back with its areas of difficulties in implementing the reforms. At its Special General Meeting held in Delhi on July 26, the BCCI had concluded that it was opposed to the following reforms:

a) Matters pertaining to membership (One State one vote, membership of All India Universities, Services Sports Control Board and Railways Sports Promotion Board); b) Number of persons in selection committees; c) Functions, powers, duties, and obligations set out for the employees, office-bearers; functionaries, committees, etc., to be decided by the General Body from time to time;

d) Restrictions/disqualifications of office-bearers (age, tenure, cooling-off period, government servants, minister); and e) Constitution of Apex Council.

The BCCI has steadfastly stalled all efforts to implement the reforms to the extent that the CoA has requested the Supreme Court to dismiss the top three office-bearers of the BCCI (acting- president C.K. Khanna, acting-secretary Amitabh Choudhary and acting-treasurer Amitabh Chaudhry).

In its fifth Status report, the CoA had also quoted Justice R.M. Lodha, who had said, “the heart, kidney and lungs are being taken out of these reforms” in reference to the BCCI describing the core of the reforms mandated by the Supreme Court as “impracticable.”

Some of the BCCI’s State units have been functioning on an ad-hoc basis even as some have begun a hurried but discreet exercise to form the players’ associations.

“It is time for the players to come together and realise the need to fight some of these officials who have been in power for decades,” said former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi.