CHENNAI: AS a two-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justices SA Bobde and Abhay Manohar Sapre sits down on Tuesday afternoon to resume the hearing in the BCCI case and other related pleas, some key decisions are expected.
Notable among them is the future of the state units who are yet to comply fully with the Lodha panel recommendations. The Committee of Administrators (CoA), entrusted with the job of revamping house, in its 10th status report filed before the court on October 28 had called for their membership to be suspended and voting rights be taken away until they accept the July 18, 2016 order.
The Supreme Court will also take a call on the CoA’s request to hand over a sealed envelope containing 13 names — submitted by the Justice Mudgal Committee, that preceded the Lodha panel — to the Anti-Corruption Unit of the BCCI for further investigations.
It is understood that Vinod Rai, chairman of the CoA, will also table the independent committee’s report on alleged sexual harassment charges against BCCI CEO Rahul Johri. Diana Edulji, the other member of the CoA, has openly criticised the manner in which the independent committee probed the issue and called for Johri’s resignation. The Supreme Court might come into the picture, provided Aditya Verma, the petitioner in the BCCI case, files a fresh plea before the court over the manner in which Rai formed the independent probe panel headed by retired Justice Rakesh Sharma despite strong objection from Edulji. The two also disagreed over the clean chit given to Johri.
When the CoA filed its 10th status report, seven state units — Karnataka, Arunachal, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland — were listed under the non-complaint category. The CoA had asked these units to furnish a compliance certificate, failing which their right to vote at general body meetings of the BCCI would be suspended and grants stopped. While this newspaper couldn’t verify independently if these units have accepted the recommendations fully, sources in the know indicated that a few of them still have issues with some of the guidelines.
The case is not different for 10 other units, which were partially compliant with the Supreme Court orders.
They are the associations of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bengal, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Manipur and Goa. Among them, Bengal have accepted all but one of the recommendations and the story is similar with TNCA.
“A few of us who have partially compiled with the orders have been waiting for further clarity for the way forward. Some of them are practically not possible to implement for various reasons and directions have been sought. So without directions, these units cannot comply with the order. The CoA is supposed to assist us on this, but apart from a few communications, nothing has moved forward. It is up to the Supreme Court now,” a veteran administrator of a state unit said.
Meanwhile, with the rift between Rai and Edulji increasing day by day, there are concerned voices within the BCCI who want the Supreme Court to set a time frame within which the state units have to hold elections.
(venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com)