Lodha reforms: Supreme Court dismisses review petition, BCCI suffers setback

The Supreme Court dismissed the BCCI’s review petition to recall the July 18 judgement approving the Lodha panel’s recommendations to make the Board’s functioning more transparent

The Supreme Court dismissed the BCCI’s review petition to recall the July 18 judgement approving the Lodha panel’s recommendations to make the Board’s functioning more transparent.

The BCCI’s plea for recusal of Chief Justice TS Thakur from hearing the review petition was also dismissed.

“We have examined the grounds urged in support of the prayer for review. We find no error apparent on the face of the record to warrant recall of our order dated 18th July, 2016. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. Applications for hearing in open court are rejected,” read the order signed by CJI Thakur and Justice SA Bobde.

BCCI president Anurag Thakur along with BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke intracts with media at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai

Though the decision was taken on November 10, the order was uploaded on the SC website on Tuesday. Review petitions are heard in chambers until the request for an open hearing is entertained. With the dismissal of its review plea, the BCCI’s last legal remedy is to file a curative petition.

Along with the review petition, the BCCI had filed an application seeking Justice Thakur’s recusal on the ground that he was biased and cited his remarks that the Board had appointed a “demented person” like Jagmohan Dalmiya to head the organisation.

The BCCI also objected to his comments that cricket had grown despite BCCI. This observation was made when his bench was hearing a matter pertaining to the cleansing of the All India Football Federation.

“The said statement paints the petitioner which is otherwise an organisation of repute as if it were an organisation that had undergone some kind of ‘treatment’ to rid it of some vice and notoriety that it was otherwise deeply associated with.

“It is respectfully submitted that the said statement holds out that the judicial legislation of which review is being sought for is some kind of ‘treatment’ that this Hon’ble Court would impose on ‘corrupt organisations’,” the BCCI review petition filed through counsel Abhinav Mukherjee had stated.