CoA submits hard-hitting tenth status report

Those who have not furnished the compliance certificate and amended the constitution are the State cricket associations of Gujarat, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Haryana, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

The CoA has asked the apex court to issue further directions to the States to carry out amendments and submit compliance affidavits.

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has told the Supreme Court in its tenth Status Report that seven associations have “failed and neglected’’ to furnish the compliance report of the apex court order of August 9, 2018 approving the BCCI’s new constitution written by the CoA in relation to the Justice Lodha Reforms in cricket, ten associations have partially complied with the order and 17 in a substantial manner.

Those who have not furnished the compliance certificate and amended the constitution are the State cricket associations of Gujarat, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Haryana, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh. The BJP President and Rajya Sabha MP, Amit Shah is the President of the Gujarat Cricket Association.

Those categorised as “partially compliant’’ are Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa, Maharashtra, Bihar, Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Manipur and Vidarbha and those in the substantially compliant category are Andhra, Assam Baroda, Mizoram, Puducherry, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Mumbai, Odhisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Sikkim,Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.

Direction from apex court

The CoA has asked the apex court to issue further directions to the States to carry out amendments and submit compliance affidavits to the Supreme Court failing which their voting rights would stand automatically suspended at the AGM and further action taken.

The CoA wants non-compliant States to fulfil the Supreme Court order of August 9 and submit compliance affidavits and amended constitution in a prescribed format within seven days, the partially compliant and substantially compliant States to carry out further amendments in a prescribed format and submit compliance affidavits to the Supreme Court in two weeks time, failing which their voting rights at the AGM would be automatically stand suspended and further action taken.

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The CoA has said in its report that many States have deviated from the prescribed format given by the CoA and that international cricketers have not been given voting rights. It has also petitioned the Supreme Court to issue directions to appoint Ombudsman, Ethics Officer for the BCCI for a period of one year and to constitute a separate committee to commission a Forensic audit of State associations.

Most importantly and referring to the roadmap forward for the BCCI and State associations, the CoA has urged the Supreme Court to issue directions to effect the elections of the BCCI within 90 days with only the representatives of those associations who have filed affidavits of compliance before the Supreme Court and has been found by the CoA to be in order to attend and vote and contest elections.

The CoA also wants the Supeme Court to issue directions to the registrar of societies, companies, charity commissioner to register the respective amended constitutions of each State association as per the communication of the CoA, that elections in the State associations may be conducted only after they compliance affidavits are filed and found in order by the CoA.

Membership to international players

In a separate note to the BCCI members the CoA has pointed out that as per the Lodha Reforms, all State Associations have to grant membership to former international players hailing from the State. It has also pointed out that ``it is necessary that there is uniformity in the constitution and functioning of the various associations (without any office being created for life), that membership of social clubs be divorced from the administration of cricket which is a sombre task, that cricketers be made members and have a say in the governance and that the management is made professional.’’

Forensic audit of associations

The following is the observation made by the CoA for the need to run a forensic audit of some associations.

The due diligence reports submitted by various audit firms engaged by the BCCI, prima facie, show instances of malfeasance and misfeasance of funds in certain State Associations, which requires further investigation in order to ascertain the specific individuals involved in the same.

In order to ensure that the newly elected office bearers of the State can start with a clean slate and put in place appropriate systems and controls regarding utilisation of funds disbursed to State Associations by the BCCI, the CoA is of a considered opinion that a former Judge of this Honourable Court, a retired Deputy Controller and Auditor General and such other person with appropriate experience in investigating such matters be appointed to examine (1) due diligence reports in detail with the assistance of the audit firms (2) commission a forensic audit in respect of those State/Member Associations where the due diligence reports indicate instance of misfeasance and/or malfeasance and (3) initiate appropriate action against the individuals identified as responsible for the same.