BCCI vs Lodha committee: Let's see how far board carries out reforms, says panel chief

New Delhi: Supreme Court has done its best to have the BCCI implement the Lodha panel’s sweeping reforms, said the committee’s chairman Justice (Retd) RM Lodha after the apex court asked the cricket board not to disburse funds to state bodies until they abide by the recommendations. [caption id=“attachment_3064438” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Justice Lodha. AFP[/caption] “If the Supreme Court has done something, it must be for the implementation of its judgment on 18 July. The court has done what it thought was best for having its order implemented. Let’s see to what extent the order is carried out by the BCCI,” said Lodha. Besides freezing the financial transactions between BCCI and its state bodies, the Supreme Court also directed BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke to give undertakings on affidavit, before the Lodha panel and in apex court by 3 December, stating how much time they would need to implement the reforms. Lodha said the committee remains open to talking to the BCCI brass including Thakur to discuss the road ahead. “If he (Thakur) comes, we will definitely interact with him. As a matter of fact we had invited him on 9 August but he did not come,” he added. A bench headed by chief justice TS Thakur and comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao asked the Lodha panel to appoint independent auditors to scrutinise all BCCI accounts. The judgment, which was pronounced by Justice Chandrachud, also directed the Lodha panel to ask the auditors to scrutinise the high value contracts given by BCCI. It directed the Lodha panel to fix a ceiling of high value contracts of the BCCI to be scrutinised by the auditors. The bench also asked the panel secretary to send a copy of the apex court order to ICC chairman Shashank Manohar.