Appointed by the Supreme Court as amicus curiae and mediator in mid-March to resolve the long-pending BCCI related reforms issues, Senior Advocate P.S. Narasimha has submitted a report to the apex court stating that the majority of the disputes raised in the form of interlocutory applications (IAs) by BCCI members on the matter related to the Lodha Reforms in Cricket Report has been resolved.
While appointing Narasimha as the mediator to deal with all IA disputes, the apex court bench comprising Justices Sharad Bobde and Abhay Spare had said: “The game must go on”.
A number of BCCI members raised objections through IAs after the Supreme Court accepted the Lodha panel (comprising Justices (Retd.) R.M. Lodha, Ashok Bhan and R.V. Raveendran) report on July 18, 2016.
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Narasimha has told the apex court that issues related to provisions in the Constitution of the State Associations were raised by the cricket associations of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Baroda, Saurashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Mumbai and they have been resolved.
With regard to the Cricket Association of Bengal, Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh and Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, Narasimha has stated that he and the CoA have made a few proposals on certain issues that would be placed before the general body of the three associations. The CAB is compliant on the Lodha recommendations, except awarding voting rights to international players.
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Narasimha has also stated in his report that three cricket bodies of Pondicherry claimed recognition and further pointed out that the CoA had awarded membership to the Cricket Association of Pondicherry in October 2017.
The other two challenged this order through IAs, but during the mediation process, the two decided to withdraw the IAs and agreed to avail other legal remedies.
With most of the BCCI members soon to be declared Supreme Court order-compliant on the reforms matter, many in the cricket fraternity are hopeful of a BCCI general body being convened and elections held. What is not known though is the stand taken by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Haryana Cricket Association.
Recently, a former distinguished BCCI official told Narasimha that the Lodha Committee did not meet the State (BCCI) members at all to understand their problems and requirement.
The apex court-appointed three-member panel interviewed 75 people, but not a single BCCI member. But they interviewed the BCCI officials Anurag Thakur, Ajay Shirke, Amitabh Choudhary and Anirudh Chaudhry.