Chandra rejects BCCI claims

Cites the board's affidavit in the Supreme Court on the autonomy question.

Subhash Chandra-promoted India Cricket League (ICL) has rejected the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI's) statement that it requires the latter's permission to run an alternative cricket league in the country.

To back this, Chandra has cited a BCCI affidavit in the Supreme Court that said the cricket body was a "private organisation" independent of the state and whose participation was restricted to its "members only".

In a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court in a case between Zee Telefilm and Union of India in 2005, BCCI had said it was a non-profit making, autonomous association restricted to its members. "It is a private organisation whose objectives are to promote the game of cricket. It is governed by its own rules and regulations independent of any state...it organises matches with its members or the team members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), which is also an autonomous body...," the affidavit said.

The Supreme Court gave the judgement in 2005, in which it ruled that the BCCI was not an organ of the "state" but an autonomous organisation like any other sports federation and thus, no fundamental right could be enforced against it in the court under Article 32 of the Constitution.

In a three-to-two majority decision, the five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Justice N Santosh Hegde, virtually gave the BCCI complete "freedom" to manage cricket in the country, saying there was a clear dividing line between a state organ and a non-state enterprise and that the judiciary "should not be an instrument to erase it unless, of course, the circumstances of the day require it to do so." On this basis, the ICL claims complete freedom to run an independent cricket league.

Defending the ICL move to form an independent cricket league, Ashish Kaul, senior vice-president of the Essel group, said: "The BCCI in its own affidavit had said that it is a private body. Even India Cricket League is a private body, so we can organise cricket matches with other cricket clubs that may not be members of the BCCI. So where is the question of taking any permission from the BCCI?"

A few days ago, vice-president of BCCI Lalit Modi had said the ICL would need the permission of the BCCI and the ICC to organise any cricket tournament or rope in any cricket players. "Subhash Chandra will need to take permission from both the BCCI and the ICC if it wants to rope in any international or domestic player. Also, the BCCI does not permit private parties to organise tournaments like this," Modi had said.

No BCCI official could be contacted for comment, owing to the two-day board meeting being held in Mumbai.

Announcing the formation of the ICL on Tuesday, Chandra had said about 15 state cricket associations were currently not part of the BCCI. "There are several cricket facilities that do not have any association with the BCCI. Similarly, there are several cricketers who do not have contracts with the BCCI any more and we may take them on board," Chandra had said.