It was never an open-and-shut case. But it was not expected to linger this long either. After last year’s July 17 Supreme Court order and repeated reminders, the BCCI is still to initiate reforms. The court has sacked a president and secretary, and the stand-in officials have been issued a show-cause notice for stalling the process. Much is expected on October 30, when a BCCI constitution based on the Lodha commission guidelines prepared by the court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) comes up for approval. The special bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has warned of “serious consequences” if the constitution is not made official.
If this means the BCCI officials and members have to finally accept the inevitable, they could actually be in for a consolation. In its September 21 order, the court reiterated that after the CoA submits the draft constitution, the contentious issue of one-state-one-vote will be reconsidered as part of “three to four aspects” that can be “debated”.
The board members had steadfastly opposed this clause. Amid lack of clarity over what the other aspects are, the BCCI’s wish list includes striking off important points like the age cap of 70 and tenure cap of nine years. Even if they get only the one-state-one-vote proposal revoked, it will be significant because it was aimed at eliminating the possibility (often practice) of six units from Maharashtra and Gujarat joining hands and influencing elections in a house where 16 constitutes the majority.
This particular point, in the words of Justice Lodha, was among the “heart, lungs and kidneys” of their report. There are apprehensions in certain quarters that if the court grants this relaxation, it might amount to backtracking on its own verdict, which said the Lodha recommendations had to be implemented in toto. If this clause is indeed removed from the constitution, the BCCI mandarins can heave a sigh of relief.