The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not doing any business and is discharging a public function which makes it subject to rule of law, the Supreme Court was told on Wednesday.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly termed the suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals as bad news, but expressed hope that the Indian Premier League will be back on track soon.
According to a report in the Indian Express newspaper, the decision to call off the tour was taken following Justice L M Lodha committee's direction to banks to freeze the accounts of the BCCI.
BCCI sources said that a similar decision in the case of another IPL team Kochi Tuskers Kerala a few years ago, at the insistence of former president Shashank Manohar, had backfired with an arbitration award favouring a payout of Rs 550 crore for the disbanded Kerala franchise on grounds of wrongful termination.
Sadly, the Lodha panel verdict on the IPL spot-fixing scandal of 2013 can't guarantee such incidents won't happen in the future, says Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com.
'All of us tend to believe that they are so well paid, why should we bother about their payments.' 'But who all are well paid? Only a handful, maybe 3-4 of them, who go in for endorsements and things.' 'The others are struggling, playing Ranji Trophy and other matches, so that compensation we made it market-oriented.'
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued show cause notice to Board of Control for Cricket in India's acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary to explain why its order on the Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha committee recommendations has not be implemented so far.
Slamming Raj Kundra's criticism of Justice Lodha Committee's order of suspending the Rajasthan Royals owner from any cricketing activity for life, petitioner in IPL spot-fixing scandal Aditya Verma claimed that the London-based businessman's statement is a contempt of Supreme Court order.
Veteran opener Gautam Gambhir's inclusion as a government nominee in Delhi & District Cricket Association's (DDCA) Managing Committee has come under the scanner due to conflict of interest issue.
The BCCI secretary after requisition from 20 affiliated units had issued a circular to conduct a SGM in New Delhi, in order to discuss policy matters with regards to decisions taken by the Vinod Rai-led committee.
Former Board of Control for Cricket in India chief Shashank Manohar dropped in at the city to meet current president Jagmohan Dalmiya.
Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, former India women's captain Diana Edulji and banker Vikram Limaye were present at the meeting held at the IDFC Bank's premises in suburban Bandra-Kurla Complex.
Although he termed Champions League T20 as a "great platform", Test specialist and SunRisers Hyderabad player KL Rahul feels that scrapping of the tournament will not mean the end of opportunity for talented Indian players to prove their mettle.
Dismissing reports of a rift in the Indian dressing room after their first-ever One-Day International series loss to Bangladesh, former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has said such talk is normal when a team loses.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) not to release funds until the state associations file an affidavit implementing recommendations of Justice (Retd.) RM Lodha-led- panel. Issuing the direction, the apex court said the state associations cannot get any money from the national cricket body till the time they follow the Lodha committee's recommendations.
On December 15, the top court had observed that Thakur prima facie appears to have committed matter of perjury in relation to demanding an intervention via a letter from the International Cricket Council (ICC) in order to sidestep the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted hearing for a bunch of petitions to January next year, including one filed by BCCI for an amendment in its Constitution which may decide the tenures of president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah.
Aditya Verma, the main petitioner in Board of Cricket Control India (BCCI) case which paved the way for Justice R.M. Lodha panel's formation, on Sunday dared the Indian cricket board to make the Deloitte report public and accused it of "threatening" the state cricket associations not to implement the reforms recommended by the panel. Speaking to ANI, Verma said that the BCCI would stand exposed if the report is made public. "I dare the BCCI and other state cricket associations that if they have guts then submit the Deloitte report before Justice Lodha by November 8. If they do, everything will become crystal clear. The BCCI has been blackmailing the state cricket associations over the report," Verma said.
Hailing the decision of the Supreme Court to appoint a two-member committee to oversee reforms in the Cricket Board after the removal of two top BCCI officials, some Olympians and Arjuna Awardees from other disciplines backed ex-cricketers Bishen Bedi and Kirti Azad to undertake the task. "The Hon. Supreme Court has given the onerous responsibility of suggesting names of eminent people who shall comprise a committee to oversee reforms in BCCI and state bodies which have been bedevilled by controversies and malfeasance," they said in a media statement following the apex court's ejection of Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke as President and Secretary of the BCCI.
The Working Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India will meet in Dharamsala on June 24 to take stock of matters, including appointment of the Indian team's head coach.
Suspended for life from taking part in any form of cricketing activity by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee, Rajasthan Royals' former co-owner Raj Kundra said, "I have been wronged".
The Indian Premier League Governing Council, on Sunday, decided to omit Jaipur and Kochi from the list of cities which will bid for new IPL teams on December 8.
The Supreme Court came down heavily on cash-rich BCCI on Tuesday, saying the cricket body was running like a "mutually beneficial society" and "practically corrupting" its members by not seeking any explanation on how crores of rupees allotted to them were being spent. While scrutinising the fund allocation and expenses of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the apex court also pulled it up for not giving funds to neglected states for promotion of cricket and said it has done nothing to encourage the game. It was also critical of the discrimination meted out to different states by BCCI and said the states begged for money from the board which follows a "no questions asked" policy as a method to buy votes in a certain manner. Lauding the work done by Justice R M Lodha-led committee for bringing out massive structural change in functioning of BCCI, the bench said "this is not an ordinary panel. It is a committee on which we have complete faith. It is committee of judges and its findings have to be relied upon. We cannot say that the findings are perverse."
International Cricket Council chairman Narayanswami Srinivasan on Monday withdrew the application for perjury against Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Anurag Thakur after the matter came up for hearing before the Supreme Court.
Former India skipper Rahul Dravid says the Justice Lodha committee's decision to ban Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals from the Indian Premier League for two years will affect the young players, but the verdict of the Supreme Court-appointed panel must be respected.
With the Supreme Court appointed three-member panel, headed by former Chief Justice of India Rajendra Mal Lodha, banning Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for two years in the Indian Premier League spot-fixing case, it is speculated that the Board of Control for Cricket in India may now come up with two new franchises in the upcoming editions of the tournament.
The 10th edition of Indian Premier League may begin from April 5 next year, less than a week after the Test series against Australia ends on March 29, while the players' auction will be held in Bengaluru on February 4. IPL Governing Council chairman Rajeev Shukla announced this following a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, adding that no decision was taken in violation of the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee directives.
Obstinate attitude by BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke is putting the entire "England series in jeopardy" said a source close to the Supreme Court appointed Justice RM Lodha panel. While BCCI is yet to sign MoU with ECB regarding the clause including the financial aspects related to the series citing non-appointment of auditor, the source made it clear that the England Test series will be in a limbo if Thakur and Shirke don't file their compliance report and appear in person before the panel.
Ganguly's current nine-month stint will get an extension if the BCCI dilutes the specific reform on tenure-cap as mandated by the SC-appointed Lodha Committee.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that 12 of its member associations have kept the funds received by the cricket body in term deposit and they will not utilise them until further orders of the apex court.
Using a sledgehammer to fix some ills can cut down a game at its peak, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar backed former India captain Sourav Ganguly to take over as interim president of Board of Control for Cricket in India following the sacking of Anurag Thakur from the top post by the Supreme Court.
Sankaranarayanan feels the Supreme Court still has a role to play in the matter and should take appropriate steps, otherwise all its efforts to reform the BCCI's administrative structure would go waste.
'We are going to write the BCCI president to take a call on Srinivasan's continuing as the president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association despite the apex court's order'
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has accepted BCCI's submission that the latter's objective is the promotion of cricket and it enjoys the power of holding IPL for achieving its objective, reports Indivjal Dhasmana.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said that disbursement of financial grant even in cricket's global body International Cricket Council has always been performance based where the top Test playing nations got more share compared to the associate members.
The under-fire Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) will hold its Special General Meeting on December 2 in New Delhi to discuss the Status Report filed by the Supreme Court appointed Justice RM Lodha Committee.
In his first media interaction after taking over as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Anurag Thakur on Sunday made it clear that the BCCI is not running away from implementing the recommendations suggested by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee, however, he clarified that it is not possible to implement all the changes. He gave reference to the one particular recommendation which says that no advertisements should be shown between overs during a live match on television, which he believes will affect the revenues of the BCCI and in turn affect everyone connected to the Board including the former, current and future players. "If you look at the reports, IPL is the fastest growing league in the world, which in itself is a great achievement for the BCCI. They have worked well, the franchises have contributed. If you look at the other side of it, where do you get the major revenues from? It is from the home series. And your revenue comes from where? It is from the advertisements," Thakur said.
'While taking the decision regarding cricket, the Supreme Court has said that the officials should not be above 70 years of age and they have described these positions as "lucrative" which made me very sad and that's why I don't have any wish to work any more'
The BCCI top brass will be facing charges of 'Contempt of Court' if they decide not to appear in front of the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Panel to discuss the implementation of the Apex Court's verdict within next six months. BCCI's legal advisor Justice Markandey Katju has termed the panel as "null and void" asking BCCI not to appear before them on August 9 -- the scheduled date of meeting.