No ministers on BCCI, legalise betting: Lodha’s tips to clean up cricket

Ministers and government officials have been barred from holding office in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Supreme Court-appointed RM Lodha Committee announced in its report on Monday.

Ministers and government officials have been barred from holding office in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Supreme Court-appointed RM Lodha committee announced in its report on Monday.

Justice RM Lodha said bringing the BCCI under the RTI act should be considered. (AP Photo)

The Indian Board can have only one full member per state with voting rights – the others will be affiliate units --- and two separate bodies will have to be formed to govern cricket and run the glitzy Indian Premier League, the panel said in its report released in New Delhi.

Read | Justice Lodha panel gives clean chit to IPL ex-COO Sundar Raman

The panel, however, cleared the former IPL COO, Sundar Raman, of any wrongdoing citing lack of evidence.

Here are highlights of the report’s recommendations:

-- Bringing the BCCI under the Right to Information Act

-- Separate governing bodies for BCCI and IPL

-- Governance will be separated from the management of BCCI

-- Two nominees of IPL teams will be in IPL governing council

-- A robust agent registration system to safeguard players, agents will have to be cleared by an anti-corruption unit

-- Lodha panel recommends legalisation of betting.

-- A player’s association introduced to give players a voice

-- Every state should be full member of the BCCI with the right of vote

-- One association of each state will be a full member and have the right to vote. This would mean founder members NCC (Kolkata) and CCI (Mumbai) could lose voting rights

-- A CAG officer will be part of the BCCI auditors

-- A former chief justice or high court judge will be ethics officer at BCCI

-- An apex council for the BCCI must comprising nine member including five elected members, two representatives of players association, and one woman

-- Minister or government officials cannot hold BCCI posts

-- BCCI officials must give up state unit post on election to the committee

The Lodha panel last year gave two-year suspensions on IPL teams Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals after Chennai team principal Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan co-owner Raj Kundra were found to be in contact with illegal gamblers during the 2013 IPL season.

Meiyappan, son-in-law of former International Cricket Council chairman Narainaswamy Srinivasan, and Kundra were banned for life from cricket administration.