BCCI full members not willing to be arm-twisted

The Supreme Court, on October 7, ordered the BCCI against disbursing any funds to state associations until it passes a resolution to implement the Lodha reforms in totality. But the mood of BCCI's full members suggest that they are undaunted.

Representative image.

Most full members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) believe that many of Lodha Committee's recommendations are unsustainable for cricket administration in India. So it wasn't a surprise when they, in the Special General Meeting (SGM), chose to maintain status quo until the Supreme Court verdict on October 17.

There are exceptions. Vidarbha Cricket Association and Tripura Cricket Association resolved to adopt the Lodha Committee recommendations. The Hyderabad Cricket Association too has given an undertaking to a court in Hyderabad that it would adopt them. Rajasthan Cricket Association, suspended by the BCCI, is also keen on implementing the recommendations.

The Supreme Court, on October 6, ordered the BCCI against disbursing any funds to state associations until it passes a resolution to implement the Lodha reforms in totality.

But the mood of BCCI's full members suggest that they are undaunted by the constant missives from the Lodha Committee and apex court’s interim orders.

After its SGM here on October 1, the BCCI declared that it would accept the recommendations in parts as it didn't want to tinker with the longstanding rules and regulations. It felt that some recommendations, if implemented, will be detrimental to its administration. International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Shashank Manohar, when he resigned as BCCI president, said that he would be "incompetent" to run the board under the Lodha Committee reforms.

The Supreme Court order also asked BCCI president Anurag Thakur to file a personal affidavit stating whether he wrote to International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman David Richardson, asking ICC to take a stand that the Lodha Committee recommendations would amount to government interference in the affairs of the BCCI.

The order also directed Ratnakar Shetty, General Manager, Administration and Game development "to place on record a copy of the authorisation/resolution passed by the BCCI on the basis of which he has filed the affidavit supporting the response of the BCCI to the status report" submitted by the Lodha Committee.