 "<b>Newsmaker:</b> RM Lodha")
Before he retired, Chief Justice of India RM Lodha made it very clear what he would - and would not - do after he stepped down from office.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi hinted there were big things in the offing for Lodha. "Many controversial issues came up before the Lodha court, but they were dealt with as legal matters. His retirement is only a short interval after the first innings of 20 years. His second innings is to start soon. We need good, keen, legal talent in Delhi... Stay in Delhi," Rohatgi said.
"Mr. Rohatgi does not know that the time of two-innings cricket is past. Players are now for Twenty20 matches," Justice Lodha replied in his address.
This was around the time former CJI P Sathasivam had accepted the post of Kerala governor. In his farewell speech, Lodha said: "This is my personal view and I am not commenting on any particular individual. I personally do not find it appropriate for a CJI or judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice or a High Court judge accepting post-retirement assignment from the government. There should be a cooling-off period of two years for judges to accept any appointment."
This was the man who handed down an order that has nearly destroyed the Indian Premier League (IPL). Obviously, the real stories about the management of the affairs of the IPL and the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) will come out later. But many will argue that the committee headed by Justice Lodha will actually rescue and save Indian cricket from the commercial pressures that have pushed it into a morass.
The Lodha Committee was formed on January 22, 2015 by the Supreme Court after the Mudgal committee, appointed as an investigator into the IPL 2013 scandal, submitted its report. The terms of reference of the committee, comprising Justice Lodha, and retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran were: Determine appropriate punishments for Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra and their respective franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals; examine the role of Sundar Raman, the IPL chief operating officer, in the IPL 2013 scandal and suggest amendments to the processes followed by BCCI with a view to preventing sporting frauds.
There is no cricket buff who does not remember the shameful background to the Mudgal Committee. In 2013, Delhi Police were tracking cellphone conversations of bookies after they got leads that players were involved in match-fixing. That's when they found conversations between Meiyappan and some bookies. As Meiyappan was the son-in-law of former BCCI president N Srinivasan who also had a stake in the Chennai Super Kings IPL team, Srinivasan was asked to step down on grounds of conflict of interest. While monitoring conversations, the police also found evidence of Kundra's contact with these bookies.
The Mudgal Committee found both Meiyappan and Kundra guilty. But the punishment was left to another committee. This was the Lodha panel and the Supreme Court brief said: "The order passed by the committee shall be final and binding upon BCCI and the parties concerned." This means that the order passed by the Lodha Committee could not be appealed against, although separate criminal cases were pending against the individuals who were found to be in touch with bookies to 'drop' matches. These were three cricketers - S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - along with Meiyappan.
The Lodha Committee's mandate was to find ways to restructure BCCI as well. He has said he will pursue that. But he is a judge, not a revolutionary. So when a law intern who had accused a senior judge of sexually harassing her, complained that she was up against a battery of 24 top lawyers retained by the judge, Lodha chided her for "not being fair" and commented that justice should not only be done, it should also be seen to be done. In another instance, he was scathing about the government when it was put to him that High Courts took inordinately long to settle case which led to the formation of tribunals. "If you transfer judicial powers to tribunals but don't grant complete independence and the control is with your ministry, all the tribunals must go. Entire control is yours in that case,"he said witheringly.
If the Lodha Committee is successful in restructuring BCCI, it will have done a service, not just to India but also to the sport. We will know in a few weeks.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi hinted there were big things in the offing for Lodha. "Many controversial issues came up before the Lodha court, but they were dealt with as legal matters. His retirement is only a short interval after the first innings of 20 years. His second innings is to start soon. We need good, keen, legal talent in Delhi... Stay in Delhi," Rohatgi said.
"Mr. Rohatgi does not know that the time of two-innings cricket is past. Players are now for Twenty20 matches," Justice Lodha replied in his address.
This was around the time former CJI P Sathasivam had accepted the post of Kerala governor. In his farewell speech, Lodha said: "This is my personal view and I am not commenting on any particular individual. I personally do not find it appropriate for a CJI or judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice or a High Court judge accepting post-retirement assignment from the government. There should be a cooling-off period of two years for judges to accept any appointment."
This was the man who handed down an order that has nearly destroyed the Indian Premier League (IPL). Obviously, the real stories about the management of the affairs of the IPL and the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) will come out later. But many will argue that the committee headed by Justice Lodha will actually rescue and save Indian cricket from the commercial pressures that have pushed it into a morass.
The Lodha Committee was formed on January 22, 2015 by the Supreme Court after the Mudgal committee, appointed as an investigator into the IPL 2013 scandal, submitted its report. The terms of reference of the committee, comprising Justice Lodha, and retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran were: Determine appropriate punishments for Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra and their respective franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals; examine the role of Sundar Raman, the IPL chief operating officer, in the IPL 2013 scandal and suggest amendments to the processes followed by BCCI with a view to preventing sporting frauds.
There is no cricket buff who does not remember the shameful background to the Mudgal Committee. In 2013, Delhi Police were tracking cellphone conversations of bookies after they got leads that players were involved in match-fixing. That's when they found conversations between Meiyappan and some bookies. As Meiyappan was the son-in-law of former BCCI president N Srinivasan who also had a stake in the Chennai Super Kings IPL team, Srinivasan was asked to step down on grounds of conflict of interest. While monitoring conversations, the police also found evidence of Kundra's contact with these bookies.
The Mudgal Committee found both Meiyappan and Kundra guilty. But the punishment was left to another committee. This was the Lodha panel and the Supreme Court brief said: "The order passed by the committee shall be final and binding upon BCCI and the parties concerned." This means that the order passed by the Lodha Committee could not be appealed against, although separate criminal cases were pending against the individuals who were found to be in touch with bookies to 'drop' matches. These were three cricketers - S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - along with Meiyappan.
The Lodha Committee's mandate was to find ways to restructure BCCI as well. He has said he will pursue that. But he is a judge, not a revolutionary. So when a law intern who had accused a senior judge of sexually harassing her, complained that she was up against a battery of 24 top lawyers retained by the judge, Lodha chided her for "not being fair" and commented that justice should not only be done, it should also be seen to be done. In another instance, he was scathing about the government when it was put to him that High Courts took inordinately long to settle case which led to the formation of tribunals. "If you transfer judicial powers to tribunals but don't grant complete independence and the control is with your ministry, all the tribunals must go. Entire control is yours in that case,"he said witheringly.
If the Lodha Committee is successful in restructuring BCCI, it will have done a service, not just to India but also to the sport. We will know in a few weeks.