Apex court intervention sought to monitor BCCI state bodies

The CPI-M Friday sought the Supreme Court's intervention to review the constitution of all cricket bodies in India to ensure transparency and accountability in their functioning.

In a communication to the chief justice, CPI-M leader Tikender Panwar said the state associations of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) must be put under legal scrutiny and monitored by the apex court.

"Sir, I would propose to bring all the constitutions of the state associations of cricket and of the BCCI to be put under legal scrutiny and monitoring by the apex court," Panwar said.

"Cricket has become a platform for land sharks and such people, especially in states like Himachal Pradesh where cricket is synonymous with land mafia," Panwar said.

The CPI-M's appeal comes on the day the Supreme Court ruled that former India captain Sunil Gavaskar should replace BCCI president N. Sriniavasan as the interim head.

The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, is under investigation for wrongfully converted a registered society into a company.

Thakur, a BCCI joint secretary, is the son of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Panwar also demanded that MPs and legislators should be barred from taking up posts in sports bodies.

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in August filed a cheating and misappropriation case against the HPCA over alleged wrongdoing in the allotment of land to the state's sports body to build a residential complex for players near its stadium in Dharamsala.