Thakur, Shirke throw the ball back in Lodha Committee’s court

Thakur and Shirke have continued to thrust the non-implementation of the new rulebook as per the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee on the members’ resistance.

A day after their deadline to submit a compliance report about the “the steps adopted for securing compliance with the remaining recommendations” of the Lodha Committee that have been converted into a Supreme Court order, the Board of Control for Cricket in India president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke continued to be in a defiant mood.

Thakur and Shirke have e-mailed their replies through affidavits on Saturday, whereas according to a Supreme Court order on October 21, they had to submit a report “within two weeks” about the steps taken to ensure the implementation of the July 18 order about BCCI’s administrative overhaul.

In near-identical replies, Thakur and Shirke have continued to thrust the non-implementation of the new rulebook as per the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee on the members’ resistance.

Detailing that the BCCI members in a BCCI special general meeting didn’t approve of the new rulebook during a meeting on September 30 and October 1, Thakur in his affidavit adds neither he nor Shirke as BCCI president and secretary have a vote in the SGM.

“I further state that I as Hon. President am in no position to force the members to adopt the full memorandum as recommended, even though armed with a Supreme Court order, as the members are of the opinion that as per the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 under which the BCCI is registered, they can amend their memorandum only when three fourths of the members present and entitled to vote, accept the changes to the memorandum,” Thakur wrote in his affidavit, accessed by The Hindu . The affidavit also clarifies that the draft minutes of the BCCI SGM, enclosed along with the affidavit, are yet to be approved by the BCCI general body.

Thakur adds that in an informal meeting of the BCCI on October 15, “members stuck to their stand” despite being made aware of the possible ramifications, including stopping of “all the payments to the associations”.

“In view of the above difficulties, the Committee may be pleased to consider issuing any further directions to the Hon. President and Hon. Secretary in this regard,” Thakur concludes.