Orissa Cricket Association today moved the Supreme Court seeking to be impleaded in the ongoing hearing related to implementation of the recomendations made by Justice R M Lodha panel which has suggested massive restructuring of country's apex cricket body BCCI.
The plea mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said there are problems in implementing the recommendations of the panel as the entire structure of the board would undergo a change.
The bench agreed with the contentions and allowed Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) to file its plea.
The apex court had on February 4 given a stern message to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asking it to "fall in line" with the recommendations of Justice Lodha Committee.
The court had said the recommendations are "straight, rational and understandable" and "deserve respect" and "there is no reason to disagree with the committee" which has the most "illuminated and respected members of the legal community".
Cricket Association of Bihar's secretary Aditya Verma has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking implementation of Lodha panel recomendation in BCCI. The matter will come up for hearing on March 3.
The apex court-appointed Lodha Committee on January 4 recommended sweeping reforms and an administrative shake-up for the troubled BCCI by suggesting that ministers be barred from occupying positions, a cap put on the age and tenure of the office-bearers and legalisation of betting.
In a series of drastic recommendations, the three-member panel, also comprisiing formers apex court judges Ashok Bhan and R V Raveendran suggested that one unit should represent only one state, while taking away the voting rights of institutional and city-based units.
It suggested restructuring of the BCCI's administrative set-up, proposing the position of a CEO to run daily affairs of the Board accountable to a nine-member apex council.
Among the most sensational suggestions by the Lodha panel was the one on legalising betting. It felt that the move would help curb corruption in the game and recommended that except for players and officials, people should be allowed to place bets on registered websites.
On January 30, the apex court had appointed a four-member
committee of administrators headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai to run the affairs of the BCCI and implement court-approved recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.
Other three members of the committee of administrators include historian Ramachandra Guha, Vikram Limaye, IDFC Managing Director, and former Indian women cricket captain Diana Edulji.
The bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra had also paved the way for the Indian Cricket Board's representation in the crucial ICC meeting by appointing cricket administrators Amitabh Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhary of BCCI along with Vikram Limaye for the purpose.
While naming the four members for the committee of administrators (COA), the court had rejected the suggestion of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to appoint Secretary of Union Sports Ministry as one of the administrators, saying its July 18, 2016 judgement had specifically debarred ministers and government servants from holding any office in the BCCI.
The bench also made it clear that the BCCI CEO would report to this COA and, with the assistance of the counsel of the Board, apprise the administrators about the implementation of the Lodha panel recommendations accepted by the apex court.
The COA will place before the apex court within four weeks the report about the recommendations for reforms in the cricket body complied with by BCCI, it said.
