BCCI unlikely to challenge Lodha recommendations

Present CJI was one of the 2 judges who recommended the panel be set up

The country’s apex cricketing body is unlikely to challenge the recommendations of the Supreme Court-appointed R M Lodha committee, given this week. These were considered radical and had prompted speculation on whether the Board of Control for Cricket  in India (BCCI) would challenge it.

A high BCCI source told Business Standard  this was not likely, owing to the “Justice Thakur factor”. Thakur, now the Chief Justice of India (CJI), had as part of a two-member bench with Ibrahim Kalifulla recommended the setting up of the three-member panel last year (Lodha is also an ex-CJI) in the matter.

The panel, the bench had said, would not only decide on the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing issue but also suggest changes to the working of BCCI.

“A person does not form a committee only to strike its recommendations down,” said a BCCI official privy to the developments. “The broad consensus in the board is that opposing the recommendations might lead to a loss  of  face, though drastic measures such as one-state, one-vote could be challenged as it will render associations such as Vidarbha and Saurashtra null and void.”  

Both  the Vidarbha and Saursashtra cricket associations have been around since pre-1947 and are considered powerful in the BCCI system. BCCI's current president, Shashank Manohar, for instance, is  from  the Vidarbha cricket association.

The three-member Lodha panel had said on Monday, when presenting its 159-page report, that only  one unit  should represent  one state, taking away the voting rights of institutional and city-based bodies.

Lodha, when spoken to, said: “Since the option is open, one can challenge it (recommendations). But, the fact is that it is a very high-powered committee and we have done what was best for the institution, after consulting all stakeholders.”

Manohar and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur were not available for their comments. Sources in the know say one-state, one-vote will hurt Manohar the most, while Thakur will have to relinquish either his position as BCCI secretary or president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Board if he has to stay in the national body.

The Lodha panel has recommended BCCI functionaries not hold two positions simultaneously, beside barring ministers and government officials from any position here. And, limiting the age and tenure of members of the apex council.

It also proposed segregating the governing bodies of BCCI and IPL, bringing BCCI under the national Right to Information Act and legalising of betting on cricket.

MAKING THE PITCH

• MAY 2013: 3 cricketers arrested by Delhi Police on charges of match-fixing
   
• OCTOBER 2013: Supreme Court (SC) constitutes a three-member panel led by former high court judge Mukul Mudgal to look into corruption charges in the Indian Premier League (IPL)
   
• FEBRUARY 2014: Mudgal panel finds Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra, India Cements, Jaipur IPL Pvt Ltd (connected to Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals teams) guilty of match-fixing
   
• JANUARY 2015: SC constitutes a three-member panel led by Justice R M Lodha to decide on the quantum of punishment for the guilty and also to suggest administrative reforms for the Board of Control for Cricket in India
  

 

JULY 2015: The committee suspends India Cements and Jaipur IPL, the owners of the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals teams, respectively, for two years and bans for life Meiyappan and Kundra from any involvement in cricket matches
 

JANUARY 2016: Lodha panel submits its final report to the SC proposing sweeping reforms in governance structure of BCCI