Govt, BCCI asked to suggest names for executive panel

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the central government and BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to suggest names by Friday for proposed administrative committee for the cricket body till a permanent arrangement is put in place. The Bench has already been given a list by the amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam and lawyer Anil Divan. The list will remain in sealed cover and a decision will be taken by the court on Monday. 

At the request of BCCI, lawyer Arvind Datar was allowed to give three names in a sealed cover on who will nominate a person to represent the country at ICC (International Cricket Council) at its executive meeting in February first week. 

During the two-hour heated arguments by several counsels, Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi asked the court to postpone the decision for two weeks, but the request was denied. He raised several questions regarding the main judgment approving the RM Lodha committee suggestions and removing top executives of the cricket body. Counsel warned that the BCCI order will have serious negative impact on other sports bodies also. It is not merely a domestic issue but has international implications because the sports body is run by a court committee which may not be acceptable to the international bodies. The judges however, insisted on setting up the committee, suggested by its January 2 judgment without waiting for arguments on the legal issues. They observed that “the impurities must be cleaned.” The court should not be led into a “dark maze”, they observed. 

Kapil Sibal, senior counsel for BCCI, said that there are basic errors in the judgment which should be heard by the court before setting up the committee. He reiterated the earlier objections regarding the Lodha committee suggestions that the age restrictions and state representations are impossible to implement without causing great damage to the game. He said that state associations are not willing to give undertaking to implement the Lodha suggestions and their views have not been considered in the judgment. Their rights under the law should not be taken over by the court through a judgment. It would violate several provisions of other legislations, Sibal said. 

Gopal Subramaniam who was appointed to assist the court following the cricket scams said that the court had heard and considered all objections in the last two years and they could not be reargued now after the final judgment has been delivered. He asserted that BCCI was intransigent throughout and few recommendations have been fulfilled, calling for the appointment of the committee. The judgment cannot be left in a vacuum and remain unimplemented. Larger questions raised can wait while the committee should be set up to run BCCI.