"By taking away voting right, it doesn't alter your status as cricket club. Anyway, you take money from BCCI like other state associations. We are not interfering with the CCI's membership," was how the bench observed.
It was yet again a day when two Mumbai-based cricket associations – Cricket Club of India and Mumbai Cricket Association – tried their best to convince the special bench of Supreme Court that "they are all for the reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India provided their membership status is not changed".
This has come in the wake of Justice RM Lodha panel recommendations that one state should only have one vote. MCA and CCI are two of the oldest full members of the BCCI and manage the Wankhede and Brabourne Stadiums, respectively. But Maharashtra have four full members in the BCCI – Maharashtra Cricket Association (based in Pune) and Vidarbha Cricket Association (based in Nagpur) apart from MCA and CCI.
Having got the first turn to present its case, CCI senior counsel Shyam Dewan emphasised on his status in the BCCI by virtue of being the founding member. Knowing well that CCI has been exercising voting right without having any team representation in the domestic cricket, the counsel kept giving names like Vijay Merchant, Raj Singh Dungarpur and Sandeep Patil to convince the apex court that "it has contributed a great deal in popularising the game in the country".
However, the special bench consisting of Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifulla told CCI that even "ICC has not given two votes to its member countries".
"By taking away voting right, it doesn't alter your status as cricket club. Anyway, you take money from BCCI like other state associations. We are not interfering with the CCI's membership," was how the bench observed.
When CCI counsel kept reiterating that "voting is club's fundamental right being a founding member" as CCI had come into being in 1933, much before the registration of BCCI (in 1940). And, the CCI had constructed the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and allowed BCCI to conduct international and national-level matches when the BCCI had no infrastructure of its own.
Hearing this, the special bench made it clear on Monday that "Justice Lodha recommendations are aimed at restoring people's faith that the game was being promoted and played, free from all regional biases and malpractices – be it inequitable allocations of funds, betting, fixing or financial irregularities".
Why Wankhede was built?
Interestingly, the CCI counsel didn't tell court the entire truth.
Accepted that CCI has a great history and has not taken any money from BCCI like any other state association. But what about the numerous instances being discussed in media when money exchange hands to seek associations' votes during any given election ever since BCCI has managed to attract big commercial rights. How come Maharashtra lobby forgot that it was Jagmohan Dalmiya's three votes – Cricket Association of Bengal, National Cricket Club and casting vote of BCCI president – which was instrumental in defeating Maratha stalwart Sharad Pawan in 2002.
And what CCI counsel conveniently concealed from the Apex court was also the history behind constructing Wankhede Stadium in close proximity to the Brabourne Stadium in mid-1970s.
Talk to any cricket follower in Mumbai and he will tell you how in early 70s there was a bitter showdown between CCI and Bombay Cricket Association (now MCA) over the allotment of seats (read free passes). In one instance, BCA even threatened to stage a Test at Shivaji Park with temporary stands.
But the dispute got really serious when in 1971, BCA president SK Wankhede (then a PWD minister in Maharashtra govt) was told by the then CCI president and former India great Vijay Merchant that the BCA would not be allotted any extra seats during India-England series.
Being an influential state minister, Wankhede returned the compliment by building another stadium, in his own name, around CCI in the shortest possible time where a Test was hosted in 1975 during the tour of West Indies.
Since then, Brabourne only staged a few international matches but kept earning money through memberships and by letting ground available for concerts or rallies.
MCA, interestingly, supported all reforms proposed by Justice Lodha panel but only demanded that its status should not be touched as "full-fledged member".
The arguments would resume on April 13.
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