#dnaEdit: BCCI's defiance against Supreme Court backfires

The stage has been set for a dramatic showdown in the Supreme Court with the Lodha Committee asking the top court to immediately replace the current office-bearers in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha, was vexed with the BCCI top brass for defying its recommendations to overhaul the cricket administration in the country. In its report, the Lodha panel accused the BCCI of non-cooperation and suggested that a new dispensation will ensure a smooth transition to the system recommended by it. The committee has also demanded that all decisions taken by the BCCI which are contrary to the July 18 judgment of the Supreme Court accepting most of the Lodha panel recommendations must be struck down. In recent weeks, the BCCI has made some critical appointments to the Secretary post and announced a new selection committee to pick cricketers for the national teams. 

The Lodha panel had recommend a three-member selection committee but instead the BCCI continued with its earlier system of appointing a five-member panel with a selector from each zone. It had become evident after the appointment of retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, a critic of many Supreme Court actions, as the BCCI’s legal advisor, that the BCCI was in no mood to go down without a fight. The BCCI may have succeeded in its go-slow tactics but the judgment requested the Lodha panel to continue its oversight over the BCCI restructuring even after submitting its report. The panel was asked to evolve timelines by which the amendments to the BCCI charter, the setting up of new bodies and fresh elections would be conducted. In short, the retired judges on the Lodha panel would have assumed quasi-administrative roles in the BCCI. However, the BCCI appears to have frustrated the Lodha panel’s efforts by not issuing directions to its affiliate regional associations to follow the Supreme Court orders or replying to e-mails and other communications emanating from the panel.

The clash between the BCCI and the Lodha panel, which is now acting as a surrogate in implementing the Supreme Court’s orders, could also end up pitting some of the country’s top politicians against the judiciary. Board president Anurag Thakur is a senior BJP leader and parliamentarian. Important politicians like Arun Jaitley, Amit Shah, Sharad Pawar, Rajiv Shukla, and Farooq Abdullah have served as office-bearers of the BCCI and its regional associations. In its judgment, the Supreme Court had agreed with the Lodha Panel observations on the undesirability of having ministers and MPs at the helm of the BCCI and its constituent associations. The court had rejected the BCCI’s contention that the influence wielded by these officials helped ease the task of cricket administration instead observing that the job of cricket administration required full time work which would clash with the onerous duties of public servants. Obviously, the BCCI office-bearers appear to be counting on their political clout to evade the Lodha panel-mediated reforms. There are several instances where entities, government and private, continue to be in contempt of court orders. But this time the Supreme Court seems intent on pushing through the BCCI reforms. The BCCI top brass is fast running out of options and is yet to offer a credible reason on why the present system is better than the one recommended by the Lodha panel.