CHENNAI: The Supreme Court’s verdict to remove BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke has been welcomed by most. Former cricketer Kirti Azad feels this is the right decision, paving the way for the board to be cleansed. “For far too long, BCCI has been misusing its powers. This decision was coming, right from July 18 last year, when the board decided not to follow the Lodha panel’s recommendations. But as a former cricketer and fan of the sport, this decision bring a lot of joy. It can pave the way for the whole structure of BCCI to be redone, while also ensuring that future officials will tread carefully, while also duly abiding by the new norms that will eventually come into being,” said the politician.
Another former cricketer, Madan Lal, said this was inevitable. “There is nothing to react. Everyone, including Thakur and Shirke themselves, knew this was coming. SC is the highest body in the nation when it comes to law, and not heeding their instructions was perhaps not the right thing to do,” said the 1983 World Cup winner.
Azad added he was disappointed with the way Thakur handled the whole episode. “Such a young person coming to power was actually cause for optimism, but it didn’t go as planned. Maybe his counsel could be partly blamed, especially considering someone like Arun Jaitley, an experienced lawyer who has been connected with cricket so deeply, was part of that team,” added the son of former Bihar Chief Minister of Bhagwat Jha Azad.
Azad, also part of the triumphant 1983 team, revealed he had collected 27 former Olympians, and they had filed a petition with the SC three weeks back, regarding making the Lodha panel recommendations uniform across all federations. “While it’s a good day for cricket, we want to ensure these recommendations be implemented across all sporting federations. We filed the petitions three weeks back, and hopefully the hearing will take place at the end of January.”
raviiyer@newindianexpress.com