Apex body accepts all major recommendations, gives Indian cricket board six months to implement them
Accepting all major recommendations of Justice RM Lodha panel on structural reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Supreme Court on Monday approved the panel's opinion that "no minister or serving bureaucrat can be member of the BCCI board and no person above 70 can't become the office bearer of the apex cricket body.
A bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifulla rejected BCCI's objection against recommendations saying, "the Ministers and Civil Servants have been helpful in promoting the game in the past does not mean that the game would cease to get their patronage if they are disqualified from holding any office in the State Associations or the BCCI."
Justice Lodha panel's suggestion of one-state-one-vote was also accepted by the bench saying that states like Maharashtra and Gujarat having more than one cricket associations will have voting rights on rotational basis.
The court also accepted the proposal that office-bearers in the BCCI should not be beyond the age of 70 years. "There is no denying the fact that cricketers who play competitive cricket generally fall in the age group of 18 to 35 years. This implies that even after retirement from active cricket, anyone who has the potential to contribute to the game can do so for over three decades till he attains the age of 70 years. The upper age limit recommended by the Lodha Committee is not, therefore, unreasonable or irrational by any standard."
It accepted the panel's recommendation that there should be a players' association in the BCCI and the funding of players' association accepted while leaving it to the board to decide the extent of funding.
The bench also accepted the recommendation that one person should hold one post in cricket administration to avoid any conflict of interest and scrapping of all other administrative committees in the BCCI after CAG nominee comes in.
The BCCI has been given six months' time to implement the Lodha panel recommendations with a direction to the panel to monitor the implementation.
The court also ordered that a CAG nominee will be part of the BCCI to keep track of its funds. The court, however, left it to Parliament to decide whether functioning of BCCI can be brought under the RTI as recommended by the Lodha Panel and whether to legalise betting in cricket or not.
"All that we need to say is that since BCCI discharges public functions and since those functions are in the nature of a monopoly in the hands of the BCCI with tacit state government and central government approvals, the public at large has a right to know and demand information as to the activities and functions of the BCCI especially when it deals with funds collected in relation to those activities as a trustee of wherein the beneficiary happens to be the people of this country. As a possible first step in the direction in bringing BCCI under purview of Right to Information (RTI) Act, we expect the Law Commission of India to examine the issue and make a suitable recommendation to the government," the court said.
It also left it to the board to decide whether there is need for any change in the existing agreement relating to broadcasting rights and whether a franchise member should be in the board to avoid any conflict of interest.
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