Change affects vested interest of people: SC

Change is perceived to affect vested interest of people in terms of loss of ego, status and power particularly when it is organisational, the Supreme Court today said while referring to "stiff resistance" from those interested in continuance of status quo in BCCI.
A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice F M I Kalifulla observed that those resisting the structural change "have some threat of personal loss".
"The truth is that resistance to change stems partly from people getting used to status quo and partly because any change is perceived to affect their vested interest in terms of loss of ego, status, power or resources," it said.

"This is true particularly when the suggested change is structural or organisational which involves some threat, real or perceived, of personal loss to those involved," it said.
It said that no wonder "the portents of change which the recommendations made by the Committee, appointed by this Court, symbolises are encountering stiff resistance from several quarters interested in continuance of the status quo".
The bench also said that the recommendations for reforms in BCCI came from a body whose fairness and sense of justice cannot be doubted but it has made no difference to those opposing them.

"The fact that recommendations for change come from a body (Lodha Committee), whose objectivity, fairness, sense of justice, equity and understanding of the problems that are crying for a solution are beyond any doubt or suspicion, has made little or no difference to those opposing the recommendation," it said.

The apex court also quoted Charles Darwin, who has spoken of 'change' in the context of his theory of evolution saying "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."
The bench said 'change' is constant in the world, yet the world hates it no matter if it is only the change that has brought progress for mankind.
It also quoted Benjamin Franklin, who had said "When you're finished changing, you're finished" and the words of Albert Einstein that "The world as we have created is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.