Indian cricket board now has 'special seven' to find road ahead

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been successfully finding ways over last one year to make sure that Supreme Court orders are not implemented beyond a point.

During their Special General Meeting on Tuesday, BCCI came up with yet another seven-member committee. Six members of this panel are either ineligible or hanging on to their seats in their states with a single-point agenda of "not allowing Justice Lodha panel recommendations to be implemented".

Going by the mandate given to this committee — to "identify exceptional and extremely limited areas of difficulty" in the implementation of the Lodha committee reforms — to know the final outcome should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Former India captain and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly, who has to undergo cooling off period after serving three-year term in his state, has been included in the seven-member 'special committee' of the BCCI. The panel will be led by none other than Rajiv Shukla, who had to demit his Uttar Pradesh post after serving for over a decade.

The other members of the committee are BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary (ineligible in Jharkhand), TC Mathew (facing corruption charges in Kerala), Jay Shah (son of BJP president Amit Shah and served his term in Gujarat Cricket Association) and BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry (ruling Haryana unit for over decade). Meghalaya Cricket Association secretary Naba Bhattacharjee looks to be the only eligible official included as a representative from the North East.

The decision to form this committee was taken during the SGM on Monday in Mumbai. DNA has reliably learnt from insiders that "during the SGM, none of the BCCI full members were interested in taking take a step towards implementing the SC order of July 18, 2016".

In fact, the SGM was only convened to consider implementation of the SC orders, apart from six other inconsequential items, as per the diktats from Committee of Administrators (COA). Despite being a priority, the discussion on the SC orders was taken up last in the SGM.

"I've called the first meeting of this committee on July 1 which shows that we're serious in finding ways to resolve any issues, whatsoever, before the next SC hearing on July 14," said BCCI secretary Choudhary on Tuesday.

When asked how could discussions be held with each state cricket association in such short time, Choudhary said: "We've already mentioned the word 'utmost urgency' in our communication to all members. Our efforts are to reach a conclusion as soon as possible, even if that takes a bit more time."

Srini, a big hurdle

It has been learnt that Choudhary was keen of getting a resolution adopted on Monday itself, in his bid to seek some relief from SC on few issues. But it the presence of former BCCI president N Srinivasan is said to have changed the mood inside.

The seven-member committee's main agenda is to look into five key issues. One State-one vote, cooling-off period of three years after every term, age cap of 70 for officer-bearers and nine-year tenure restriction rule. The Srinivasan group has left no stone unturned in challenging these issues.

The acting BCCI president CK Khanna was not kept in the loop regarding the formation of the committee. However, in what is perceived as an effort to to keep him in good humour, it was decided to include a line that "BCCI acting president will be apprised on a regular basis on the deliberations of the committee and the report shall finally be submitted to him to present it to the General Body".