Lodha panel report: BCCI to file affidavit in Supreme Court

Mumbai: The Indian cricket board, following the Special General Meeting in Mumbai on Friday, has decided to file affidavit in Supreme Court, pointing out difficulties in implementing Lodha Committee recommendations.

“The Members authorized the Hony. Secretary BCCI to file an affidavit in the Hon’ble Supreme Court on behalf of the BCCI pointing out the anomalies and difficulties encountered in implementation of Hon’ble Justice Lodha Committee’s recommendations,” said BCCI in the media release.

After the meeting of its Legal Committee here earlier this month, with BCCI president Shashank Manohar attending it, it was decided to convene the SGM to get the views of the various affiliates before it responds to the Supreme Court on the issue.

The Board had earlier advised its affiliates to convene their own managing committee meeting of SGM to take stock of the situation and discuss the implications of the recommendations made by the Justice Lodha Committee.

"As some of the recommendations have far reaching consequences, it may be advisable to seek an expert opinion as to how the same would affect your association," BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had written in his communication to the BCCI's affiliates.

Among the recommendations are limitation of tenure for the Board's office-bearers, prescription to limit their age to 70 years, one state-one vote (set to directly affect the associations within the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat) and barring of ministers and government officials from becoming office-bearers.

The BCCI also approved Board’s affiliation committee’s recommendation to grant full member status to Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh and they will be a part of Central Zone for all BCCI tournaments.

Chhattisgarh has been an associate member for a long time now and with a state of-the art stadium in Raipur, are ready to enter the big league. The meeting was attended by Chhattisgarh Cricket Sangh (CCS) president Baldev Singh Bhatia.

However, in another interesting move Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), one of the warring factions in the state, was allowed to participate in the working committee meeting.

Its secretary Mrityunjay Tiwary attended the meeting. Interestingly, another unsanctioned Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), whose secretary Aditya Verma became the face of the IPL spot-fixing petition and anti N Srinivasan movement, was given a cold shoulder by the BCCI bigwigs.

In fact, Verma was not even invited for the meeting, while the rival faction now seems favourite to get associate membership status.

The other item on the special agenda of the SGM was "discussion on financial structure of the Member Boards of ICC (International Cricket Council).

“The Members authorized the President and Hony. Secretary to discuss the governance and financial restructuring of the ICC subject to such restructuring being incorporated in the constitution of the ICC for permanency. Further the members also authorized the President and Hony. Secretary to rework the FTPs for the period 2016 to 2023 and ensure equitable distribution of the matches,” said BCCI.

The ICC had recently decided to scrap the controversial constitutional amendments, which gave executive clout and financial power to India, Australia and England.

The Shashank Manohar-led ICC Board has recommended a complete overhaul of the current power structure in the meeting held in Dubai earlier this month.

In its first meeting of 2016 after Manohar took over as ICC Chairman, the world body's Board agreed that the current system, put in place by former head N Srinivasan, needed to be done away with.

The Manohar-led ICC has suggested a complete review of the constitutional changes made in 2014 by Srinivasan which gave enormous powers to the 'Big Three' with the bulk of the share of the ICC's revenue going the troika’s way.