The full members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will meet in New Delhi on Saturday to analyse and consider the Supreme Court’s interim order of October 6 in the matter related to reforms in cricket.
The meeting has been convened by the BCCI only for its full members and hence is not a special general meeting (SGM). On July 18, the Supreme Court endorsed virtually all of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.
As of Friday, only the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) and the Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) have adopted the Lodha committee recommendations.
The TCA’s representative will attend Saturday’s meeting. “We have filed an affidavit with the Lodha Committee and also the Supreme Court,” said TCA president Kamal Saha.
The VCA, having given a thumping verdict in favour of the reforms in cricket, may skip the meeting. “We have not filed an affidavit before the Lodha Committee or the Supreme Court. We will take a call on it tomorrow,” said VCA president Prakash Dixit.
The Supreme Court, in its interim order of October 6, has placed the responsibility on the presidents of the full members to file an affidavit stating that the association is “agreeable to abide by the reforms as proposed by the Lodha Committee and accepted and modified by the court,” and also file a copy of the resolution with the court.
The court also said that only by doing so could the full members who have not claimed the balance amount (Rs. 16.73 crore) of the Champions League T20 compensation become eligible to receive the payment from the BCCI. In case of the full members who have received the full sum of Rs. 28.73 crore, the court said it cannot deploy the second instalment of Rs. 16.73 crore for any expenditure until the association’s president files an affidavit with the Lodha Committee and the court.
BCCI lawyer Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court bench that the BCCI had not been in a position to adopt the MoA and Rules and Regulations because of “the reluctance of the State associations in subscribing to the same.”
While the VCA and TCA adopted the recommended reforms in cricket administration at an SGM, the others have not even conducted an SGM.
“We don’t want the remaining money (of the CLT20 compensation). Our position is the same as it has been from the day the recommendations were made known in January and approved by the Supreme Court on July 18. Administration in this country will collapse if we accept the recommendations in full,” said a full member who is likely to attend the meeting.
Another official from South India said: “Our legal committee’s understanding is that the Lodha Committee recommendations are not applicable to us now.”
Almost all full members will go by what BCCI president Anurag Thakur tells them. The Board president’s line of thinking has rarely been opposed by his full member colleagues; Vidarbha had its reasons and Tripura decided to respect the court order.
Hyderabad has given an undertaking to a court that it will adopt the Lodha Committee recommendations.
The Supreme Court has posted the case to be heard at 2 p.m. on October 17.
Our Special Correspondent adds...
RCA wants to attend meeting
Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), suspended full member of the BCCI, has addressed a letter to the BCCI president and secretary and copied to the Justice Lodha Committee saying that it intends to participate in Saturday’s meeting.
RCA secretary Sumendra Tiwari has said: “The RCA is committed to implementing the Lodha Committee recommendations and wants to put forward its views.
“We also intend to raise an issue with regard to the amount of money spent by way of legal and professional expenses to resist implementation of the recommendations,” Tiwari has said.
