DHARAMSALA: The BCCI top brass lived to fight another day, as the Supreme Court reserved order on the status report filed by the Lodha panel. The report had pleaded the BCCI office-bearers be superseded and new administrators appointed as the board was not cooperating with the panel to follow the July 18 order of the apex court.
Though the order was reserved, observations made by the bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur clearly indicated that in case the BCCI doesn’t comply with the panel and implement the recommendations in full, it might take the “extreme step” and replace the office-bearers. The board, in its defence, said that it cannot force the members to vote in favour of the recommendations as it needs the support of the three-fourth on the floor of a special general meeting to make amendments to its constitution.
To this, the bench asked amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium what should be done to make the state units fall in line and he suggested all funds be stopped until they accept. He also sought immediate removal of all the office-bearers, who were disqualified under the recommendations made by the Lodha panel.
He added that the panel had no objection if the BCCI went ahead with the reforms and performed its duties with the approval of the panel. In case they failed to do so, Subramanium asked for an independent administrator, who will report directly to the panel.
During the hearing on Monday, Kapil Sibal, appearing for the BCCI, sought time to implement the recommendations and argued that the one-state-one-vote recommendation will lead to corruption and founding members like Mumbai and Baroda should not be denied voting rights. He reiterated that the board has not been able to garner support of the three-fourth to effect constitutional changes.
However, the bench asked the BCCI to list and present the reforms it has put in place and the ones it is planning to implement. It also asked when the board will put in place the rest of the recommendations. After going through minutes of meetings, the court stated that the BCCI has tried obstructing the orders at every stage.
Earlier in the afternoon, BCCI president Anurag Thakur in his affidavit denied asking the ICC to intervene in the matter.
In the affidavit, accessed by Express, he stated that he had only asked ICC chairman Shashank Manohar to clarify his stand, as earlier in his capacity as BCCI president, he had said that having a CAG in the apex council would amount to government interference. Although he admitted to sending a letter requesting clarification in the matter, Thakur added that discussions with Manohar were merely on the stand he had taken before the Supreme Court order on July 18.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com