BCCI vs Lodha panel: Supreme Court defers hearing till 15 December, say reports

The Supreme Court on Wednesday postponed hearing in the BCCI versus Lodha panel case to Thursday (15 December), according to a report by News18. The case, which deals with massive structural changes in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has seen multiple adjournments already. [caption id=“attachment_3155932” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The BCCI-Lodha panel case has seen multiple adjournments already. AFP[/caption] The Lodha panel, in its report on 28 September, had called for all of BCCI’s current office bearers to be replaced by a group of independent administrators, which they later amended by asking for the disqualification of office bearers of the BCCI and all state associations, who become ineligible according to the apex court’s 18 July order. This eligibility criteria included age cap and previous tenure with the board, among others. In addition, the panel also proposed the appointment of former Union home secretary GK Pillai in the capacity of ‘observer’. The BCCI was told by the apex court to “fall in line or we will make you fall in line”, after its continued reluctance over implementing the Lodha recommendations. The court on 13 December, also dismissed the BCCI’s plea seeking a review of its 18 July verdict directing it to implement the Lodha panel recommendations. “We have examined the grounds urged in support of the prayer for review. We find no error apparent on the face of the record to warrant recall of our order dated 18 July, 2016. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed,” a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice SA Bobde said. The main points of discord between the two parties have been the age cap of 70 years on administrators, cooling off period of three years between terms, and the one state one vote policy. The BCCI had said that it had accepted most of the recommendations of the Lodha panel, but put the rejection of the few recommendations down to the disagreement of the state associations over it. The apex court’s order that barred the BCCI and state units from utilising funds until they implement the Lodha recommendations in full, has also not been accepted by the majority. In what would cause further heartburn for the BCCI, the Lodha panel has reportedly also decided to approve of international matches only in states whose associations comply with the panel’s recommendations. The apex court-appointed Lodha Committee had recommended sweeping reforms and an administrative shake-up in the troubled BCCI back on 4 January.