BCCI submits draft constitution, incorporating Lodha panel suggestions, in Supreme Court

New Delhi: A draft constitution of the BCCI was submitted in the Supreme Court in a sealed cover on Monday, incorporating suggestions of the Justice RM Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body. Also, the apex court, which had summoned BCCI office- bearers CK Khanna, Amitabh Choudhary and Aniruddh Chaudhry for allegedly coming in the way of the preparations of the draft constitution, took note of their personal appearance, and exempted them from appearing before it on 29 November, the next date of hearing. [caption id=“attachment_4170631” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra made it clear that it would not allow any plea now seeking to intervene in the ongoing proceedings, saying that they would be “cruelly” rejected. “In pursuance of an earlier order, the draft constitution has been filed. The personal appearance of the office-bearers is now dispensed away with,” the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said. Earlier, the bench had summoned the three officials after it was alleged that they had been stalling the process of framing of draft constitution, being framed in accordance with its judgement, and had warned them of serious consequences if they failed to give suggestions. The top court had said that the draft constitution should include the suggestions of the Lodha committee in its entirety so that a holistic document can be placed before it for a final decision. The three officials were also present on Monday in the court in compliance with its 23 August order summoning them to appear before it. The court had earlier expressed its displeasure that the directions given by it and its order on the recommendations of the Lodha panel had not been implemented yet. The bench had directed the Committee of Administrators to prepare a draft constitution of the BCCI in terms of its earlier judgement and order on the Lodha panel recommendations. The Justice Lodha panel had recommended a slew of structural reforms in BCCI which were approved by the apex court. It had approved the Lodha panel’s recommendations such as ‘one state, one vote’; ‘one member, one post’; and fixing an age-cap of 70 years on those occupying BCCI posts. The Lodha panel was formed in January 2015 in the wake of the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee report that called for reforms within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The Mudgal panel had gone into state of affairs of the BCCI, following the 2013 IPL betting and spot-fixing charges. The court had in its 18 July last year verdict accepted most of the recommendations of the Lodha committee to reform the BCCI following charges of large-scale maladministration in the cash-rich cricket body.