The Supreme Court on Friday prima facie concluded that the BCCI’s top administrators, including its president and BJP MP Anurag Thakur, are an impediment to the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee’s efforts to reform Indian cricket.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.M. Khanwilkar said there is “substance” in Justice Lodha Committee’s suggestion that the BCCI bosses’ defiance of and intransigence to its recommendations should be punished with their removal.
The Justice Lodha Committee had said violation of its recommendations tantamount to defiance of the Supreme Court’s own judgment of July 18, upholding the Lodha reforms.
However, the 21-page judgment of the Supreme Court chose to tread cautiously and desisted from ordering their exit, for now. Instead, the court gave the BCCI an “additional opportunity” to prove its bona fide and engineer an all-out effort to induce its member State associations to adopt the Lodha reforms for fairness and transparency in cricket administration.
BCCI told to prove its good faith to the court
The three-judge Bench gave the BCCI time till December 3 to comply with the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations. The cricket board’s president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke have to file a compliance report in the Supreme Court. The duo have to also appear before the Lodha Committee to explain the manner of compliance. The Supreme Court has fixed the next date of hearing on December 5.
The court acknowledged that the BCCI was “in default and in breach of the directions of this Court.” But itsaid that it has given the BCCI this opportunity to put its act together in the “larger interests of the game of cricket.” The window is a chance for the Board to prove its good faith to the court, it said.
“Having regard to the larger interests of the game of cricket, we are desisting from issuing a direction at this stage in terms of the request made by the Committee for appointment of administrators so as to enable the BCCI to demonstrate its good faith and indicate the steps taken for compliance both before the Committee in the first instance and before this Court by the next date of hearing,” the judgment authored by Justice Chandrachud said.
Checks in place
At the same time, the Supreme Court refused to give the BCCI a long rope.
It ordered that all disbursements of BCCI funds to member State associations should “forthwith cease and desist” till the latter see reason and resolve to fully comply with the Lodha reforms in letter and spirit.
“Any transfer of funds shall take place to the State associations only after compliance is effected,” the court said. Further, itdirected the Lodha panel to appoint an independent auditor to scrutinise and audit the income and expenditure of the BCCI.
The Committee shall also fix a threshold value for award of contracts by the BCCI. Any contracts valued above the threshold limit shall be entered into only after the Lodha Committee’s approval, the court said.
