Political bigwigs may fall foul of Lodha panel’s recommendation

The Lodha Committee recommendation that an office-bearer in the Indian cricket board can hold only one post at a given point of time is likely to hit some political bigwigs who simultaneously hold multiple positions in the sports body.

The Lodha Committee recommendation that an office-bearer in the Indian cricket board can hold only one post at a given point of time is likely to hit some political bigwigs who simultaneously hold multiple positions in the sports body.

Chairman of the Supreme Court Committee on Reforms in Cricket Justice (retd.) R M Lodha with members Justice Ashok Bhan (R) and Justice R V Raveendran showing the copy of their report at a press conference in New Delhi. A significant number of political bigwigs will be affected if the panel’s one-post recommendation is implemented.(PTI Photo)

Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Anurag Thakur will himself fall foul of the rule if it is implemented. The BJP youth wing president is the president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association as well, and will have to give up one of the two cricket posts.

Congress leader Rajeev Shukla will also face a similar predicament as he serves as chairman to the Indian Premier League, is the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association director and is a member of the BCCI’s tour, programme and fixture committee.

Aside from the bar on multiple postings, the panel’s recommendation that no office-bearer in the Indian cricket set-up should be over 70 years also affects current members. Most notable of all will be former BCCI and ICC president Sharad Pawar who heads the Mumbai Cricket Association.

While, the three-member Supreme Court-appointed panel, headed by the former Chief Justice of India, RM Lodha, has not given any sweeping directions to keep politicians away from the influential sports body, it has provided plenty of checks and balances to curb a select few controlling the body.

But isn’t just politicians who will have to choose one post over the other; former India skipper Sourav Ganguly currently serves on four committees -- president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, part of the executive committee of the BCCI affiliated National Cricket Club of Kolkata, heads the board’s technical committee and is a member of the IPL Governing Council.

Ajay Shirke, a prominent Pune businessman, is the president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association and is also in the IPL Governing council.

Also on the list is former Jharkhand IPS officer, Amitabh Chaudhary, who joined the BJP recently. Chaudhary is the BCCI joint secretary as well as president of the state cricket association.