In a swift, but not necessarily unprecedented move, the Supreme Court today accepted all major changes recommended by the Justice Lodha panel regarding the administrative setup of India’s cricket body.
The Anurag Thakur-led administration has now been given a 6 month deadline to implement the changes. The SC also retained members of the Lodha Committee to now oversee the transition within the board.
- No minister or government official can be an office-bearer of the board while each state will get only one vote at the BCCI from now on. However, there was respite for Maharashtra and Gujarat which have four and three associations respectively, as they get to retain their associations but get the vote on a rotational basis.
- However, the one recommendation that will hit the board President directly, states that a person cannot simultaneously be an office-bearer in a state cricket association as well as in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Anurag Thakur currently is the President of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA).
- The court also accepted the Lodha Committe recommendation for a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the BCCI board.
- On the question of bringing the BCCI within the ambit of Right to Information Act, the court left it for parliament to take a call.
- However, the court refused to interfere with the BCCI in respect of awarding broadcasting rights and the funding of the state associations.
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