SC raps BCCI for defying Lodha panel, to pass order on funding today | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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SC raps BCCI for defying Lodha panel, to pass order on funding today

Hindustan Times | By, New Delhi
Oct 07, 2016 12:31 AM IST

A face-off between the Indian cricket board and the judiciary intensified on Thursday as the BCCI refused to guarantee compliance with a sweeping set of reforms and the Supreme Court threatened to dismiss the leadership of the world’s richest sports body.

India’s cricket board refused on Thursday to offer a guarantee that it would comply with sweeping reforms endorsed by the Supreme Court, worsening a bitter stand-off with the judiciary that threatens to disrupt the sport in the country.

The BCCI has opposed the root-and-branch changes proposed by the Lodha panel, arguing it is a private body.(Prateek Choudhury/ HT File Photo)
The BCCI has opposed the root-and-branch changes proposed by the Lodha panel, arguing it is a private body.(Prateek Choudhury/ HT File Photo)

The board’s defiance angered a bench led by chief justice TS Thakur, which threatened to dismiss the body’s top rung and pass an interim order on Friday barring the funding of state cricket associations, prohibited under the SC-appointed Lodha panel recommendations.

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“If you are giving an unconditional undertaking that you are abiding by all conditions by tomorrow, we will wait, otherwise we are passing orders,” justice Thakur told the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

One of the world’s richest and most powerful sports bodies, the BCCI has been dogged by financial scandals and allegations of mismanagement for decades.

After a spot-fixing scandal in the flagship Indian Premier League marred the BCCI’s reputation three years ago, the SC ordered a panel under former CJI RM Lodha to clean up the body and suggest changes. But the recommendations have proven thorny to implement with the BCCI digging in its heels.

Read | BCCI-Lodha saga: Here’s how the board’s fight against SC has played out

Kapil Sibal, the lawyer for the BCCI, asked for time till October 17 to talk to state associations and ruled out any immediate promise. He argued that any interim order restricting funds to BCCI affiliates will cripple domestic cricket.

BCCI also blamed state associations for not adopting the reforms and claimed it did not have any control on them. “If they are reluctant, why give them funds,” the bench countered.

“We can’t be wasting our time for reforming BCCI. People are waiting for years to get justice, but here people (BCCI) are not willing to reform,” justice Thakur told Sibal, who replied: “I can’t give the undertaking.”

The bench immediately stopped the proceedings and called it a day at 3pm. “We will pass the orders tomorrow,” the CJI said.

Earlier in the day, the court asked the BCCI what compelled it to disburse Rs 400 crore to state associations on September 29 despite the panel’s direction not to release funds until reforms were in place. The sports body explained the disbursal was in terms of a November 2015 decision that came before the recommendations. However, it could not produce any documents to support the argument.

“I think we are forced to come to a situation where the BCCI is asking for their suspension by this court,” said justice Thakur who expressed displeasure when told that none of the top brass – including president Anurag Thakur – were professional cricketers.

“Who is the he? What is he? Is he a politician? Did he play cricket?” Thakur asked.

Though Sibal said that Anurag was a serious cricketer, the CJI was left bemused when informed that the BCCI president played just one Ranjhi Trophy match – as head of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association he appointed himself as the captain of the state team and played a match with Jammu and Kashmir.

“All of us have played cricket in our lives. Even I have captained the Supreme Court judges cricket team,” the CJI said.

Read | Why BCCI’s claim that it lacks funds to host India-NZ Indore Test is a lie

Thursday’s hearing was the result of Lodha’s complaint that the BCCI was stalling all efforts to change its old system of functioning. The former SC judge also alleged the board flouted suggested guidelines at its annual general meeting on September 21, which included forming a new national selection committee.

A cloud already hangs over the remainder of New Zealand’s tour of India after unnamed BCCI sources told the media that they couldn’t fund state associations to hold matches because the Lodha panel had frozen their accounts.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Bhadra is a legal correspondent and reports Supreme Court proceedings, besides writing on legal issues. A law graduate, Bhadra has extensively covered trial of high-profile criminal cases. She has had a short stint as a crime reporter too.

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