Happy B’Day, Lodha Reforms! One Year of Being Sidestepped by BCCI

The apex court had asked another ‘apex’ body to implement reforms. Here’s how much actually changed. Hint: Not much.

It’s been a year since the Supreme Court asked the BCCI to implement a set of recommendations suggested by the court-appointed Lodha Committee.

The court had given the ‘world’s richest cricketing body’ a six-month period to effect some major changes in its administrative setup, which the BCCI had ‘respectfully’ accepted.

One of the biggest talking points from the list of recommendations accepted by the SC was that ministers, civil servants and those above 70 – aka Niranjan Shah, Sharad Pawar and N Srinivasan – would be banned from becoming BCCI members.

But years of experience in running cricket associations had taught these men how to bowl a googly or two, because they managed to stick around. Due to “no clarity” on his disqualification, Srinivisan had decided to be part of BCCI’s Special General Meeting in May after he had been barred from the ICC meeting in April.

The other big change was that a person was no longer allowed to simultaneously be an office-bearer in a state cricket association as well as in the BCCI. This meant that Anurag Thakur had to either give up his post as BCCI President or President of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA).

That he did neither is another good example of how the BCCI lives in its own little world.

However, five months later the SC finally got an ‘inkling’ of the BCCI’s lack of motivation to implement any of their orders. Thus, Anurag Thakur was ceremoniously (or not) sacked as President along with Secretary Ajay Shirke.

And this time round, Thakur actually had to respect the decision. Here’s a sassy him wishing the Supreme Court all the best if it thinks BCCI can work better under retired judges.

Thakur continues, however, to be HPCA President, which still gives him a vote in the BCCI. Which brings us to the another big reform that the BCCI was supposed to implement, but never did.

According to the SC-approved implementation, each state was to get only one vote at the BCCI and states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, which have more than one cricket association, were to have voting rights on a rotational basis. However, BCCI’s (honorary) secretary Mr Amitabh Chaudhary on 8 July said that there were "actual ground difficulties” in implementing this order.

But almost a year after Supreme Court's 18 July order, the BCCI has at least “been able to reduce our reservations from seven to four points”. Translation: Court’s order be damned, we do whut we want!

From ignoring seven recommendations, to only ignoring three! Lucky break, Supreme Court, apex court of the land... you must be so grateful!

Also Read: BCCI’s Final Shortlist of Problem Points in Lodha Recommendations

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