BCCI sticks to its guns on Lodha panel

Members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have refused to comply with all the recommendations of the Lodha Committee, yet again, at the cost of losing access to the board's funds. While sticking to their stand on the matter, members decided at a special general meeting on Saturday that BCCI President Anurag Thakur and Game Development Officer Ratnakar Shetty will reply to the Supreme Court on Monday, when the next hearing is scheduled.

The board's view is that all the recommendations cannot be implemented because of practical problems, sources said.

The meeting, called to decide BCCI's stand, did not consider the option of compliance by individual states that are ready to do so. It is learnt that a majority of the members decided not to budge and BCCI will decide on the next course of action after further hearings. Members felt the BCCI counsel had not been heard entirely and, therefore, they wanted to wait. The SC had earlier barred BCCI from using its bank accounts.

During the last hearing on October 6, the court had frozen funds worth Rs 400 crore that were transferred to 12 state associations. It had asked BCCI not to make payments till further orders. BCCI on September 29 had decided to disburse these funds despite the panel's opposition.

The court had asked the board to give an undertaking, accepting to implement all of the panel's recommendations unconditionally. However, the BCCI has not yet complied with the order. It is expected that BCCI will petition the SC bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur to hear its argument before passing any order on Monday. According to BCCI sources, rules such as 'one state, one vote', age limit for office-bearers, one position per person, etc, are not practical. It is also opposed to the idea of not allowing any civil servant and ministers from holding office.

The BCCI president will file his personal affidavit to the SC.

The court order came after International Cricket Council Chief Executive Officer David Richardson said Thakur had alleged that the apex court's intervention was tantamount to intervention by the government. According to rules, international cricket bodies bar national boards from allowing any government intervention.