HC notice to MCA on plea seeking dissolution of its committee

The Bombay High Court today issued a notice to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on a writ petition seeking that its managing committee be dissolved for non-implementation of the recommendations made by Justice R M Lodha Committee.

A bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and M S Karnik directed the MCA to file its reply within two weeks.

The petition has been filed by Nadeem Memon, a member of one of the sports clubs under the MCA.

In his plea filed through senior advocate Mihir Desai, Memon has sought that the MCA's managing committe be dissolved and an administrator be appointed by the high court to manage its affairs in the interim and implement the recommendations of the Lodha Committee report.

The petitioner has alleged gross mismanagement of funds and operations within the MCA.

The plea has also alleged that the MCA's current managing committee indulged in illegality while holding the ongoing T-20 Mumbai League matches.

"The managing committe employed the services of two private companies-- Wizcraft International, and India Infoline Ltd-- as special purpose vehicles to conduct the matches. However, in effect, the managing committee members planted middlemen to enable them to siphon off the funds received from the T20 event," the petitioner said.

"The court must appoint a Committee of Administrators headed by a retired judge of the court, to take charge of the affairs of the MCA by superseding its managing committee, and to take steps to implement the Lodha Committee recommendations," the petitioner said.

The BCCI, too, supported the stand of the petitioner and told the high court that considering that the MCA was unwilling to implement the Lodha panel recommendations to help streamline its activities and bring about transparency in its affairs, its current managing committee should be dissolved.