As per a rough estimate of its own, BCCI was expecting close to $4.5 billion from sale of three IPL rights — TV, internet and mobile.
Late on Thursday, the officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) might have been relieved as after Friday, there was just one more working day left, i.e. Monday, before they decided on the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights for next 10 years.
As per a rough estimate of its own, BCCI was expecting close to $4.5 billion from sale of three IPL rights — TV, internet and mobile.
With 18 big companies already in the fray to cash in on this time around, the cricket bosses were hoping against hope that such a lucrative chance to flex their monetary might must not get out of their hands.
However, by Friday morning, when there was a sudden notice by Supreme Court of pronouncing the interim orders.
The first and foremost thing that the apex court, in a slew of directions, sought is the appointment of an “independent auditor” to “scrutinise and audit” the income and expenditure of the cash-rich body besides going into high-value contracts awarded to various entities.
The last time, it was Sony Pictures Networks which bought the IPL media rights till 2017 for a whopping $1.6 billion bid.
But this time around there were many companies, including Star India, Twitter, Facebook, Sony Pictures and Reliance Jio are some of the major names in fray.
Friday's interim orders also meant that “no funds now will be given to the state associations till they, along with BCCI’s president Anurag Thakur “undertake to implement” the Lodha Commision's recommendations on reforms.
Passing the baton
It is said that by not complying with SC orders, BCCI was trying to count days till serving Chief Justice of India retires on January 4.
But on Friday CJI TS Thakur passed the baton to his younger colleague Justice DY Chandrachud, in the presence of Justice L Nageswara Rao, pronounced the orders.
SC was clear in its stand that any transfer of funds “shall take place to the state associations” only after they accept terms and comply with them. The bench also directed BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke to file separate “affidavits of compliance” before the court on or before December 3, 2016 in terms of the earlier order.
In its 21-page order, SC said that the Lodha panel would be at liberty to obtain advice of auditors on the “fairness of the tendering process” which has been adopted by BCCI and in regard to all relevant facts and circumstances.
“Though BCCI is in default and breach of the directions of this Court, in order to enable it to have an additional opportunity to establish its bona fides and to secure compliance with the judgement of this Court dated July 18, 2016, we grant time until 3 December 2016 for the purpose,” the bench said after hearing BCCI’s senior counsel Kapil Sibal.
Sibal had claimed “in respect of some of the recommendations, where state associations have not agreed to implement, BCCI will make a genuine endeavour to persuade the state associations to ensure compliance”.
States also in the dock
The ramifications of Friday’s orders could be huge. Going by Justice Lodha’s recommendations, the BCCI now have to seek the performance audit of all the states. Which simply means that money that states received all these years from BCCI will have to be accounted for.
dna has learnt that BCCI’s hired audit firm, Deloitte, last year found massive irregularities while scanning the books of various state associations. The auditors were said to be surprised by the manner in which some units maintain their accounts.
Since the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, the BCCI has been under pressure to monitor the money that goes to state units. And when Shashank Manohar took over as BCCI president in 2015, he immediately announced the scanning of all accounts of BCCI and state units.
According to a former board official, states like Delhi, J&K, Jharkhand, Hyderabad, Odisha and Haryana were a few, which came up for special mention of irregularities by Deloitte.
SC has also asked the BCCI president and secretary to meet the Lodha panel before November 3. The next court hearing is scheduled for December 5.
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