Lodha Panel recommendations: Focus on 'cooling off' period, nine-year tenure as BCCI meets for SGM

New Delhi: With the pressure of implementing the Justice Lodha Committee Reforms in the coming six months, a wary BCCI will be meeting for its Special General Meeting to discuss the far-reaching implications of the Supreme Court directive. Post the Supreme Court verdict, which more or less directed the richest cricketing body in the world to adhere to most of the recommendations, this will be the first time that BCCI will apprise all its affiliated units about the way forward. [caption id=“attachment_2905496” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of BCCI logo. Reuters[/caption] With the appointment of former Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju as BCCI’s legal adviser and interface with the Lodha panel, it is expected that the board will toe the line as per Katju’s advice. If the BCCI wants, they can always call Justice Katju as a ‘Special Invitee’ so that he gets a first-hand account of the concerns raised by the affiliated units. According to sources, most of the state units will voice their inability to implement the reforms within six months and a minimum time-frame of 12 to 18 months is something that they would require for all practical purposes. This is one issue that Lodha Panel may have to address. The meeting gains special significance more so because BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke are supposed to meet the Lodha Panel next Tuesday to discuss the implementation part. It is expected that Thakur and Shirke will put forth the concerns of the members to the Committee and cite some of the practical difficulties that the units are facing. Two state units namely – Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) – have had their elections frozen post the Apex Court verdict. Similarly Jammu and Kashmir’s election has been declared null and void after they conducted the elections post verdict with sitting state minister Imran Ansari being made the president. The cooling-off period of three years between two terms and a cumulative period of nine years are two points that has come up for a lot of deliberations in the past few days. The verdict, in its present form, could mean the end of the road for senior administrators above 70 years of age. Sharad Pawar has already declared his intentions of stepping down from Maharashtra Cricket Association’s post while N Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah will also have to step down from their respective state associations for the ‘age- cap’. Similarly, there are officials like current CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey, who is young in terms of age (in his mid-40s) but has already been an office-bearer for 10 years in various capacities as assistant secretary, treasurer and joint secretary. One individual, one post will mean that the likes of Thakur, Shirke, two Chaudharys – joint secretary Amitabh and treasurer Aniruddh will have to relinquish one of the two posts. The selection panel is set to shrink from five to three with one of the current selector Gagan Khoda being ineligible by virtue of having only played two ODIs and no Test matches. The formation of proposed players association and an Apex Council is also going to be discussed.