Here are some key Lodha panel reforms, instances of BCCI rejecting them

The BCCI is accused of cherry-picking recommendations made by the top court-appointed panel headed by former CJI RM Lodha.

India’s cash-rich and powerful cricket board could face a possible leadership crisis on Friday with the Supreme Court threatening to punish the sports body for doggedly refusing to implement a raft of reforms suggested by a panel headed by a former judge.

The BCCI is accused of cherry-picking recommendations made by the top court-appointed panel headed by former CJI RM Lodha, centre. (PTI)

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

The BCCI is accused of cherry-picking recommendations made by the top court-appointed panel headed by former CJI RM Lodha.

(Read the full status report submitted by the Lodha Committee to the Supreme Court here)

Here are the Lodha Committee’s key recommendations:

1. One state, one vote

2. An age limit of 70 years for administrators

3. Nine-member Apex council instead of working committee

4. Nine-year tenure for administrators with cooling period after every three-year term

5. Three-member selection committee to pick the Indian team

The Lodha reforms have been rejected by the BCCI in various instances:

1. Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, who is assisting as an amicus curaie, on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the BCCI defied the Lodha Committee’s directive by transferring large sums of money — about Rs 550 crores — to the state associations, despite not forming the disbursement policy mandated by the committee by the September 30 deadline.

2. The BCCI in its Special General Meeting accepted some recommendations with certain modifications. They have objected to Lodha panel’s suggestion of having representatives (one male cricketer and one female) of the Player Association on the all-powerful Apex Council.

3. The BCCI has also objected to giving full vote to the Northeast states as recommended by the Lodha panel. The BCCI has said it will give voting rights to the Associate members as per the ICC guidelines. The ICC guidelines are that the votes have to be divided in 3:1 ratio. Three Associate and Affiliate members form one vote in the ICC.

4. The BCCI was supposed to adopt the new draft memorandum by September 30 as proposed by the Lodha Committee in its first set of timeline. It was defied by the Indian board by choosing selective recommendations.

5. The Lodha Committee had recommended at least a 15-day gap between the IPL and the national calendar. The BCCI in its press release after the SGM had stated that the “effort to ensure a 15-day gap between the national calendar and the IPL – the same will not be possible in the year 2017 because of the ICC’s Champions Trophy being scheduled in England at around the same time.”

6. The BCCI ignored the Lodha Committee’s recommendation to form a three-member selection panel. It went ahead with the five-selector policy and also appointed two first-class cricketers in its senior selection panel which was against the Test criteria set by the Lodha panel.

7. BCCI’s biggest act of defiance was when Anurag Thakur & Co conducted their Annual General Meeting, despite the Lodha Committee’s guidelines to not transact any new business for the 2016-17 year. It filled the vacant spots in the selection panels of the men’s and women’s teams and elected Ajay Shirke as the BCCI secretary.