The Lodha Committee has in its latest report reiterated that office bearers of the Cricket Board BCCI should be sacked and has suggested that former home secretary GK Pillai be appointed as an observer to supervise the board's administration. It has said Pillai as observer should conduct the crucial task of appointing auditors for awarding BCCI contracts like that for media rights for future editions of the Indian Premier League or IPL. The committee, which was appointed by the Supreme Court after a betting scandal in the IPL to suggest reforms in the running of the BCCI, has been at loggerheads with the board, which is the world's richest cricket body.
The BCCI says it will be impossible to implement all the panel's proposals, which include an age and tenure cap for top officials and a one-state-one-vote.
The court had last month given BCCI president Anurag Thakur and the 13 state associations in the country till December 3 to implement the reforms proposed by the Lodha Committee, putting on hold disbursal of funds to state associations till they promised to do that.
Contempt notice to Shirke
The Hyderabad high court has issued a contempt notice to BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait has asked Shirke to either comply with the previous order of this court in a week's time from the date of the receipt of this order or appear in the court. Justice Kait also directed the high court registry to send the notice to the BCCI secretary.
“The court has taken a serious note of the issue and in its mind, a prima facie case of contempt has been committed,” said Mir Masood Khan, counsel for the petitioner Bharat Cricket Club represented by its secretary T Shesh Narayan. The case relates to the financial audit of the state associations done by Delloitte on behalf of the BCCI. On May 31, Shesh Narayan had written to the BCCI asking for a copy of the audit report. He had also sent a legal notice to BCCI. But the BCCI failed to respond to his request. An aggrieved Shesh Narayan then moved the high court.
