The Justice (Retd) Lodha committee recently submitted its report on re-structuring of the apex and richest sport body in India –The BCCI. The recommendations of the Lodha panel can be important for your upcoming competitive exams. Therefore, in today’s article let us take a look at some of the key recommendations of the Lodha panel.

Background:

Recently, the Supreme Court appointed three-member committee comprising of Justice (Retd.) Lodha, Justice (Retd) Ashok Bhan and Justice (Retd) RV Raveendran submitted its report to the Supreme Court suggesting an overhaul in the organisation’s structure and functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Though the recommendations of the committee are not binding on BCCI just yet, if implemented in totality, the BCCI, as we know it, would cease to exist and an accountable, transparent board may potentially emerge.

Here’s a list of the key recommendations of the panel:

1. BCCI CEO to handle non-cricketing affairs: With the view to introduce professionalism in management the committee has recommended appointment of a CEO with six managers who will look into all the non-cricketing affairs of the BCCI and its day to day management. The CEO and managers are to be helped by two essential committees with reference to tours, technical aspects and tournaments. The BCCI CEO will be accountable to the Apex Council.

2. BCCI Apex Council: The Apex council will include nine-members who will head the governance of the BCCI. The council is to decide the road map for the development of games and monitor the professional management on regular basis. The Apex council will comprise of nine members – the BCCI president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer. The rest of the members will be called ‘Councillors’ and shall include those independent of the BCCI. There will be two nominees (a man and a woman) from the Cricket Players’ Association, one nominee from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s office to ensure financial transparency and one elected representative from the BCCI General Body.

3. Criteria for office bearers: The committee recommended the formation of a nine member apex body instead of 14 member BCCI working committee. Five of the office bearers are to include president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer. With regards to the appointment for the post of president, VP, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer of the board certain eligibility criteria has been fixed such as – no minister or government servant can be elected to these post., he must be an Indian, he must not be above age of 70, he must not be insolvent, he must not be a minister or government servant, and someone who has not held office in the BCCI for a cumulative period for nine years. Furthermore, the report states that each office bearer will have a tenure of three years and can contest for maximum three terms. The office bearers will have a mandatory cooling off period after each term and no office bearer can hold office consecutively in a row. As per Justice Lodha, “Again if a person was president, after the cooling off period, he can only contest as president and not any of the other four posts. That is, one person one post.”

4. BCCI to come under the purview of RTI: As per Justice Lodha, BCCI performs public functions and people have the right to know the functions and facilities and other activities of the BCCI therefore legislature should consider bringing it within the purview of the RTI Act. At present, BCCI is registered as a society in Tamil Nadu and since it doesn’t not take any grants from the government it has stayed out of the purview of RTI.

5. Legalising betting: This was one of the most controversial recommendation made by the committee. As per the committee, with the view to curb corruption in cricket, except for players and officials, people should be allowed to place bets on registered websites. The committee however maintains that match-and spot-fixing should be made a criminal offence.

6. One State, One unit: Presently BCCI has 30 full members with some members not having any territory like Services, Railway etc. and some don’t play tournaments. Hence, 20 states and one Union Territory are included whereas 10 states and 6 UT’s remain excluded or disenfranchised. In addition, some states have more than one member for example: Maharashtra and Gujarat has 3 members while some states like Bihar has no representation on the board at all. Therefore, the committee recommends that one association from each state should represent one entire state, and have voting rights. Therefore the dictum ‘One State, One Vote. It also suggests that the voting rights of institutional and city-based units should be taken away. In addition to this, the panel recommended that one individual will hold only on post. Therefore a person cannot be a BCCI office-bearer and a state association office-bearer at the same time.

7. Formations of Player’s Association: The committee recommended that a players’ formation be formed with the financial support of BCCI with the aim to lend voice to cricket players and use their knowledge and expertise for the betterment of the game. The players association is to be formed by a steering committee headed by former Home Secretary G K Pillai, comprising of former captains Mohinder Amarnath and Anil Kumble along with women’s legend Diana Edulji.

8. IPL Revamp: The committee has recommended that the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the BCCI should have a separate governing bodies. As per the recommendation, the IPL would be under the charge of IPL governing council which will take all decision pertaining to IPL and would be answerable to the General body of the BCCI. Furthermore, the council will be composed of nine members. They are the BCCI Secretary, Treasurer and the BCCI CEO. The BCCI Governing Body can nominate two representatives. Two IPL franchisees, on an annual rotational basis, send two nominees. The CAG’s Councillor on the BCCI Apex Council will be a member. Finally, the Cricket Players’ Association can send a nominee.

The Lodha committee report has suggested sweeping changes in the functioning of the BCCI, with the view to curb corruption and restore the dignity to game that it truly deserves. However, the final decision to make these recommendation binding lies with the Supreme Court and its subsequent enforcement by the BCCI.

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