Fall in line with Lodha panel, SC tells cricket board

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Board of Control for Cricket in India to ''fall in line'' with the recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha Committee, which has suggested a fundamental restructuring of the country's apex cricket body.

The court said the recommendations are ''straight, rational and understandable'' and ''deserve respect'', and ''there is no reason to disagree with the committee'' which has the most ''illuminated and respected members of the legal community''.

The BCCI was granted four weeks' time to respond on the implementation of the recommendations of the Lodha Committee. The court made it clear that since ample opportunity was given to all stakeholders over a long period and their views were taken into consideration before preparing the final report, there should not be any difficulty in accepting the recommendations.

The remarks by a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur came after senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, representing BCCI, said there was a need to consult the 30-odd members of the Board on the recommendations and in view of its legal committee's meeting on 7 February, four weeks be allowed to respond.

However, the bench said, ''They all have been heard and have given their views to the Committee. Ask your client to take a strict view of the recommendations. You can't jump the gun. You must see the recommendations. These recommendations deserve respect. They have come from the most illuminated and respected members of the legal community. They had invited people and have done extensive deliberations with all stakeholders. The recommendations are straightforward, understandable and rational.''

''The best thing is to fall in line and follow the suggestions to save trouble,'' the bench, which also comprised Justice F M I Kalifulla, said.

''Ultimately any transition and change has to come with whatever problems it has,'' the bench said while accepting the Committee's report, which also exonerated former chief operating officer of IPL Sunder Raman of all charges. The BCCI had submitted that it should not be seen as ''obstructionist'' and it would come back with ''concrete suggestions'' after the meeting of the legal committee. However, the bench said ''the decks must be cleared for complete reform''.

When Naphade said several technical problems would arise in implementing the recommendations of the committee as BCCI is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, the bench said it would give the solution for following the suggestions.

''We will find an easy solution. We have simple solutions. We will accept all recommendations. We will say that since BCCI has difficulties and impediments in respecting and implementing the recommendations, we will direct the same committee to push all recommendations. They will tell you where to get the registration. We will ask the judges (in the committee) to help BCCI in implementing the recommendations.

''We don't want or intend to dictate a lengthy order. We want and we would end by directing that committee steer the BCCI in implementation of the recommendations,'' the bench said.

'Writing on the wall'
Realising the tough stand taken by the bench, Naphade said, ''I can see the writing on the wall.''

The bench said there was not much complication in the recommendations and if BCCI found any anomaly it can be looked into.

''There is no reason to disagree with the committee,'' the bench said while making it clear that some people are going to be affected by the implementation of the Lodha Committee's recommendations.

The bench, which was hearing the plea filed by Aditya Verma, secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar, on whose petition N Srinivasan was asked by the apex court to step down as the BCCI president for conflict of interest, posted  the matter for further hearing on 3 March.

Senior advocate Indu Malhotra, appearing for Cricket Association of Bihar, read out a portion of the Lodha panel report saying that it was not only an articulate and logical analysis of BCCI affairs but also presented very effective and logical solutions to weed out the rot in the cash-rich body.

The bench agreed with several recommendations, including that no state should be allowed to have two cricket boards as was prevalent in Maharashtra, Gujarat and a few others.

However, Naphade said there was a history behind having more than one cricket board in some states and resolving those issues based on the Lodha panel report may give rise to political problems.

The bench also agreed with the report that there was no need of representation of vice presidents from all the five zones and there should be one state, one vote, a three-year cooling-off period after every tenure, restricted tenures for office-bearers, no more proxy voting and pruning of number of vice-presidents from five to one.

Further, it was in agreement with the Committee that a person should not be allowed to consecutively hold office and the maximum period should not exceed more than nine years.

The apex court-appointed Lodha Committee on 4 January recommended sweeping reforms and an administrative shake-up for the troubled BCCI by suggesting that ministers be barred from occupying positions, a cap put on the age and tenure of the office-bearers and betting be legalised.

In a series of drastic recommendations, the three-member panel, also comprising former Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R V Raveendran, also suggested that one unit should represent only one state, while taking away the voting rights of institutional and city-based units.

It suggested restructuring of the BCCI's administrative set-up, proposing the position of a CEO to run daily affairs of the Board, accountable to a nine-member apex council.

Among the most sensational suggestions by the Lodha panel was the one on legalising betting. It felt that the move would help curb corruption in the game and recommended that except for players and officials, people should be allowed to place bets on registered websites.

Among other steps, the panel said that to ensure transparency in the BCCI's functioning, it was important to bring the body under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, something that the board has vehemently opposed in the past citing its autonomy.

Another important decision taken by the committee was to clear former Indian Premier League Chief Operating Officer Sundar Raman, who was alleged to have contacts with bookies.

The panel said there was not enough evidence to indict Raman.