CIC to decide whether BCCI comes under RTI or not

As the sports bill goes back to the drawing board after a war of words between Cabinet ministers on Monday, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has decided to review on October 4 its earlier decision to exempt the cricket board from the provisions of the RTI law.

Updated on: Sep 2, 2011, 21:47:55 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

As the sports bill goes back to the drawing board after a war of words between Cabinet ministers on Monday, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has decided to review on October 4 its earlier decision to exempt the cricket board from the provisions of the RTI law.

The Cabinet had asked sports minister Ajay Maken to redraft the bill to remove "intrusive" provisions which included making RTI application to the cricket board, which does not receive any direct funding from the government. The draft law had attempted to bring transparency and accountability among sporting federations, especially the BCCI.

The same question has come up again before the CIC as two RTI applicants had challenged refusal of information by BCCI to over 37 questions related to recent ICC World Cup, money paid to players and coaches and earning of the board through conduct of matches. Questions were also asked about the board giving money for renovation of the Constitution Club run by MPs.

The BCCI did not respond to the applications and told the CIC that it does not come under the RTI as it receives no funding from the government and per the commission's earlier order a few years ago.

"The BCCI is not a public authority in terms of section 2 (h) of the RTI Act and, therefore, is not liable to respond to any RTI applications," said R S Shetty, the board's Chief Administrative Officer.

Rahul Verma, lawyer for the RTI applications, demanded that the board should be declared as a public authority under the transparency law as it received substantial indirect benefits from the government.

"BCCI has been using various cricket stadia of the government all over the country, virtually, free of cost, or at marginal cost which amounts to substantial financing by the government," he said.

Section 2 (h) of the law says that any private body of NGO which received direct or indirect funding from the government is a public authority for the purpose of the RTI law.

Amit Sibal appearing for BCCI opposed Mehra citing the Supreme Court judgment in Zee Teleflim cases. Mehra, however, said the case does not come under the rescue of BCCI as it was not decided under the provisions of the RTI Act.

Information Commission M L Sharma termed the issue as complex and is likely to refer the matter to a larger bench to take a considered view. The next hearing of the appeal will be on October 4, when the commission is expected to deliver its verdict. It would be approximately the same time when the Sports ministry will be redrafting the law as per the Cabinet's decision.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.