The BCCI has maintained its opposition to some of the reforms recommended by the Lodha committee and will wait for the Supreme Court's verdict on the matter come December 5.
The Supreme Court accepted major recommendations of the Lodha Committee on reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India, including a bar on ministers and civil servants and those above 70 from becoming its members, but left it to Parliament to decide whether it should come under RTI and betting on the game should be legalised.
implementable' There was no end to the stalemate surrounding the Board of Control for Cricket in India's standoff with the Lodha Committee with the Board deciding to continue its opposition to some of the reforms suggested by the Supreme Court-appointed panel after a meeting, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Board of Control for Cricket(BCCI) president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke were removed by the Supreme Court on Monday for not complying with its order to implement administrative reforms within the body.
In a surprise move, the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday decided to include former Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) president Niranjan Shah as 'Special Invitee' in the newly formed committee which will study the Lodha Panel Reforms.
The Supreme Court has come down heavily on the Board of Control for Cricket in India over not completely complying with the recommendations of the Lodha Panel.
The BCCI submitted a 60-page affidavit to the Supreme Court in which it stated it's opposition to certain points in the Lodha Committee report including one association and one vote for each state and also the inclusion of a representative of the Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) in the Board.
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.
"The BCCI might think that they have escaped from implementing the recommendations but they are completely wrong."
India's limited overs captain Mahendra Singh subtly avoided commenting on the sweeping changes the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Commission has recommended on the functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Trying to rebuild its tattered image after a spate of controversies, the BCCI is waiting anxiously for the Justice Lodha Committee's report which is set to recommend a host of reforms for the cricket body on Monday. While the three-member committee comprising Justice (Retd) RM Lodha, Justice (Retd) Ashok Bhan and Justice (Retd)RV Raveendran is set to submit their report to the Supreme Court, the BCCI will be keenly watching the proceedings as to whether the Apex Court makes the recommendations binding or not.
Stating that the Lodha Committee recommendations matter, the Supreme Court, on Friday, postponed the hearing in the Board of Control for Cricket in India vs Lodha Commission case to October 17.
A look at what can happen if the Supreme Court decides to implement the reforms the Justice Lodha panel recommended for the BCCI.
The Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee has given the BCCI a second set of timelines besides setting a December 15 deadline for conducting AGM and forming an Apex Council. The decision was taken during a committee meeting on Sunday.
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.
Justice Lodha said the verdict of the Supreme Court is supreme, after the panel filed its status report which has called for the removal of BCCI President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke for non-compliance of the apex court's orders.
Former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin on Saturday alleged that the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) is not following the Lodha Committee recommendations and is also indulging in other 'irregularities and misuse'.
BCCI's national selection panel is set to shrink in the wake of Supreme Court's order to implement the Lodha Committee reforms and both Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjpe will have to leave as they don't conform to the set norms.
If the Supreme Court makes Justice RM Lodha committee's recommendations on BCCI reforms final and binding, the parent cricket body might have to alter the date of the ninth edition of Indian Premier League, scheduled to start on April 9, this year.
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.
Board of Control for Cricket in India president Anurag Thakur's affidavit, to be submitted in the Supreme Court, will be the focal point of discussions when the BCCI's affiliated units meet for a Special General Meeting (SGM) in New Delhi on Saturday to deliberate upon implementation of the Lodha Committee reforms.
With around 30 out of the 36 units becoming Lodha Compliant, it is learnt that majority of them have come on board to build consensus about a few modifications that Amicus Curiae P S Narsimha is expected to submit to the Supreme Court.
The apex court-appointed Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha committee moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to appoint former home secretary G K Pillai as an observer to guide' the Board of Control for Cricket in India in the administrative works including award of contracts, transparency norms and holding of future domestic, international and Indian Premier League matches.
A chronology of events relating to implementation of the Justice R M Lodha panel recommendations on structural reforms in the BCCI.
While four weeks time was granted to the BCCI to respond to the implementation of the recommendations, the court had made it clear that there should not be any difficulty in accepting the recommendations.
Reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India will not pull the cash-rich body back, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday and made it clear that it does not intend to reduce the popularity of the BCCI or hinder its growth but wants structural reforms which would make the cricket body more transparent.
The resistance to Lodha panel reforms remains deep rooted in the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The Mumbai Cricket Association headed by Sharad Pawar, is set to oppose most of the recommendations of the Justice Lodha committee submitted in its report to the Supreme Court last week. "We are opposed to most of the recommendations and are one hundred per cent behind Mr Pawar," said MCA's joint secretary P V Shetty, when asked about the managing committee meeting convened on January 13 to discuss the implications of the Lodha panel recommendations. "We will discuss everything and then put forth our views to the BCCI," said Shetty.
Former India captain and Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly denied he is a frontrunner to become the president of Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Aditya Verma, the petitioner in the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi warning that the enactment of the sports bill could result in the government taking control of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
A marathon session of over a dozen hearings on implementation of Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha panel recommendations on structural reforms in the Board of Control for Cricket in India came to an end on Wednesday in the Supreme Court, which took the Indian cricket board to task over issues like fund utilisation and avoiding of performance audits.
The Supreme Court has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India to follow the recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha Committee and "save trouble".
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 Delhi and District Cricket Association on Wednesday refused to implement the Justice Lodha Committee's recommendations which could have direct ramifications on the functioning of BCCI's state units. The managing committee of DDCA met here to review and deliberate on various observations of the Lodha Committee, and was not quite convinced about most of the major recommendations calling for sweeping reforms in the BCCI's governing structure. The DDCA is not on the same page with Lodha panel on major issues like elections and terms of office bearers, DDCA office bearers simultaneously holding a post in BCCI, proxy voting and conflict of interest among others. On the issue of one person holding one post, the DDCA, in a statement signed by vice-presidents Chetan Chauhan and CK Khanna, said: "We the managing committee of DDCA feel that it is the freedom of concerned state associations, to decide (whether) the appointment of office bearers would affect/restrict administrative function of DDCA or not. "So long members of the executive committee (directors) do not feel that the functioning of DDCA is being jeopardized, there cannot be any justified reason in imposing this clause." The controversial cricket body is in favour of continuation of proxy voting.
BCCI senior vice president Gokaraju Gangaraju made it clear that his association Andhra Cricket Association will implement the Lodha reforms with immediate effect.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India will hold it's Annual General Meeting on September 21 as per its existing constitution and is expected to wait for the Review petition verdict before getting into the implementation phase of the Lodha Committee Reforms.
The Supreme Court will today (Friday) pronounce its order on the apex court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha Committee's plea, seeking to replace the current Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) brass for impeding the panel's work to usher in transparency and accountability in Indian cricket administration. The court decided to pass an order on the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations today after the BCCI counsel declined to give an unconditional undertaking by today that it will seek instructions to stop funds to state bodies and abide by the committee's recommendations.
Almost a month after Sharad Pawar stepped down as its president, the Mumbai Cricket Association, on Thursday, nominated its vice president Ashish Shelar as its interim chief.
Sports Minister Vijay Goel has refused to comment on the possibility of Supreme Court initiating contempt proceedings against BCCI President Anurag Thakur, saying that his ministry has nothing to do with the matter.
In the wake of the Supreme Court order on reforms in the Indian Cricket Board, former BCCI vice-president Gokaraju Gangaraju quit as secretary of Andhra Cricket Association while GVK Ranga Raju has taken over as the head of the state unit.