November 1, 2016 Indian Newslink Digital Edition

32
Sportslink
BCCI could be bowled out for unruly defiance
Ravi Nyayapati
The Supreme Court of India, in
its ruling on October 21, 2016,
limited the financial freedom
of the Board of Control
for Cricket in India (BCCI) until it
complied with the recommendations
of the Lodha Commission, setup to
transform cricket governance in
India.
The New Zealand media picked
up the speculation that the Black
Caps’ ongoing tour of India may be
cancelled.
The Lodha Commission, headed
by former Chief Justice of India, RM
Lodha, submitted a report in January
2016, recommending sweeping
reforms to shake-up cricket governance
in India. The BCCI has been
resisting the verdict.
Domination
The BCCI prides itself of the
command it has in World Cricket.
After decades of dominance by its
English and Australian counterparts,
BCCI has become the authoritative
figure within the ranks of the International
Cricket Council (ICC).
Such is its influence that it dictates
its own terms, defying the norms of
the general rule book. For example,
it chooses not to use the Decision
Review System (DRS) in a bilateral
series, or have ‘strategic time-outs’ in
T20 games for commercial benefits.
This commercial dominance has
been a catalyst to a remarkable shift
in Team India’s overall performance.
Gone are the days of nervousness
where games involving the boys in
blue were subject to uncertainty and
trepidation. Now, the Indian team
is in the top league in all formats of
the game.
A glut of troubles
Amidst all this glory, the BCCI has
unfortunately been embarrassed
very often on the world stage.
Cricket is perhaps the only sport
of India with a true patriotic fervour
of its people. Yet, BCCI continues to
be mired in controversies, be it with
the ICC or with the Indian judicial
system.
The Lodha Commission was
established for a very good reason –
to focus on the irregularities of BCCI,
especially because of match fixing
and corruption that became more
common after the advent of the
Indian Premier League (IPL).
In July 2015, the Lodha Commission
gave its final submission and
placed a ban of two years on IPL
franchises ‘Rajasthan Royals’ and
the highly successful ‘Chennai Super
Kings,’ which boasted of Captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni at its helm.
Structure and Constitution
The Commission submitted a report
in January 2016 recommending
reforms to the structure, constitution
and governance of BCCI.
Basic structural and constitutional
issues were identified, such as the
absence of representatives from
states such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Uttarakhand and six North-Eastern
states, even though there are 30 full
time members in BCCI.
A notable yet bizarre irregularity
is that BCCI is still registered as a
society under Tamil Nadu Society
Registration Act. State Associations
are all registered under different
types of establishments.
The Lodha Commission wants to
rectify these irregularities by ensuring
that each state is represented
by only one member (and therefore
one vote) and an associate member
status is given for smaller states so
that their views may be considered.
This would bring about uniformity
in BCCI’s constitution.
Governance
BCCI’s governance was noted as
particularly poor by the Commission.
For example, the President of the
Board has all powers of management
including selection of teams
and the power to veto the Selection
Commission.
The absence of women in the
organisation has been noted.
The Commission highlighted the
contentious issue of unlimited term
for office-bearers; worse, there are
no grounds for disqualifications on
which an office bearer must demit
office.
The Commission has recommended
an Apex Council comprising nine
members including the President,
who will all collectively share the
powers.
It has also recommended the
appointment of a CEO and the term
of office-bearers to three years,
limited to two continuous terms. In
addition, no person can hold two
posts at the same time.
The Commission has also said that
ministers and government officials
should not be included in the BCCI
governing body. The current President
is a Member of Parliament.
NOVEMBER 1, 2016
Indian Premier League
A range of sensible steps have
also been suggested for Indian
Premier League (IPL) management.
To counter match-fixing issues, the
Commission’s view is that it should
be made a criminal offence and betting
should be legalised except for
players and those people covered by
the BCCI and IPL regulations.
Unnecessary Resistance
In September 2016, ICC refused to
be embroiled in the controversy.
Its current President is Shashank
Manohar, a former BCCI President,
highly regarded for his stance on
logic and rationale in the sport.
The spirit of Lodha Commission
report accentuates the need to reform
cricket in India by eliminating
poor governance.
However, BCCI has been fighting
tooth-and-nail to resist the recommendation
and of late has been
cherry picking recommendations.
Its disregard for the legal mandate
is incomprehensible.
After all, most recommendations
are logical and necessary.
On September 28, 2016, Chief Justice
of India TS Thakur warned BCCI
of its resistance as the September 30
deadline approached. On missing
this deadline, the Court ordered the
financial lockout.
This report may set the landmark
for reforms in other sports bodies
in India.
The challenge at hand is to see it
implemented.
BCCI president Thakur and
secretary Ajay Shirke are to meet the
Lodha Commission before November
3, 2016 to report on progress.