BCCI to challenge CIC order in court
MUMBAI: The BCCI has decided to legally challenge a Central Information Commission (CIC) ruling earlier this week that said the board should be brought under the Right to Information Act.
According to Espncricinfo, Vinod Rai, who heads the Committee of Administrators (COA) entrusted with overseeing the BCCI by the Supreme Court, said that the board had asked for some time before the decision could be implemented. But CIC commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu didn’t accept the request and passed the order. The CIC asked BCCI to ensure they are in a position to reply to RTI pleas within 15 days from its ruling.
Rai had also informed the CIC that the matter of bringing BCCI under RTI was sub-judice as the board had already filed a plea against it in the Madras High Court in 2013, but no attention was paid to it. This has left the BCCI with no option but to contest the order in court.
“The BCCI will seek a stay on the order of the CIC,” Rai was quoted as saying by the website.
Rai, however, said the board is open to furnishing all information except details about a few key issues on its website. “We have been practising transparency and have been transparent in everything we are doing. Except details of team meetings, minutes of team selections, information regarding injury to players, antidoping process and details concerning anti-corruption investigations, we are trying to put all other details on the BCCI website,” he said.
The CIC had a clash with the BCCI earlier in 2013 when RTI activist Madhu Agarwal approached the government body after the board declined her request to furnish information on some of its policies. Once CIC asked the BCCI to attend a hearing following Madhu’s complaint, the board approached the Madras High Court. The court issued a stay order on July 24, 2013, and since then the case has remained sub-judice.
The BCCI has contested the demands to bring it under RTI on two grounds. Its first argument is that BCCI is a society registered in Tamil Nadu and receives no funds from government. Hence, it should be treated as a private entity and not a public authority.