Shukla, Ganguly to spearhead BCCI special committee

Rajeev Shukla was named chairman as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formed a seven-member special committee on Tuesday to identify the critical points of the Lodha Committee recommendations.

Sourav Ganguly and Rajeev Shukla after the BCCI Special General Meeting in Mumbai on Monday.

Rajeev Shukla was named chairman as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formed a seven-member special committee on Tuesday to identify the critical points of the Lodha Committee recommendations.

Besides Shukla and BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, who will be the convener of the meeting, the committee will also include former India captain Sourav Ganguly (Bengal), T.C. Mathew (Kerala), Naba Bhattacharjee (Meghalaya), Jay Shah (Gujarat) and BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry.

In the Special General Meeting (SGM) held in Mumbai on Monday, the BCCI had decided to constitute a seven-member committee to talk about the issues relating to the implementation of the judgment of the Supreme Court.

According to a BCCI statement, the committee has been asked to submit a report by July 10 “in view of the fact that the next date of hearing in the matter is fixed for July 14”. The committee's report will have to be tabled before the General Body. It means that the BCCI may well convene yet another SGM between July 10 and 14.

The BCCI acting president, C.K. Khanna, will be apprised on a regular basis on the deliberations of the committee and the report has to be submitted to him for presenting to the General Body.

 

CoA meeting on July 1 The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators will meet in Mumbai on July 1 to take a stock of the developments over the last two days. While the CoA on Sunday met with representatives of all the BCCI affiliates, Monday saw the BCCI SGM deciding to form a committee to chart out roadmap for implementing Supreme Court-directed reforms. It will be interesting to see if the CoA, headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, construes the development as another attempt at dilly-dallying rather than acting on the judgement.

 

The seven-member committee may look into issues such as One state, one member, one vote rule; cooling off period of three years after every term; age cap of 70 for officer bearers and councillors; nine-year tenure restriction rule and restoring the selection committee to five members.

The committee's formation is in a way a first step by the BCCI for almost a year ever since the Supreme Court pronounced the landmark judgement. However, composition was far from being unanimous. A section within the Board pressed hard for the special committee to be chaired by BCCI acting president C.K. Khanna. The section also tried for the inclusion of Odisha's Ranjib Biswal. Both Khanna and Biswal are believed to be close aides of N. Srinivasan, the former BCCI and ICC chairman. The BCCI hierarchy eventually settled for Shukla, the seasoned politician who has the knack of getting along with various factions within the Board. Shah's presence in the committee indicates that his father, BJP president Amit Shah who also heads the Gujarat Cricket Association, may continue to suggest the BCCI's way forward. It is understood that the decision to appoint a committee was taken only after Shah Sr. conveyed his wish for forming a smaller group to the SGM through his son.