Sports minister refuses to comment on SC decision

HYDERABAD: Sports Minister Vijay Goel refused to comment on Supreme Court’s sacking of BCCI President Anurag Thakur, saying that the government was not party to the case and his ministry will not come between the top court and the cricket body. He, however, said after the recent controversy surrounding the IOA, the Sports Ministry has decided to constitute a committee for the improvement in National Sports Development Code. The Lodha Panel had recommended that all BCCI and state office bearers must not be over 70 years of age. The BCCI feared that if this rule was implemented, then many state associations would lose their top officials. The examples were Sharad Pawar of Mumbai Cricket Association, Niranjan Shah of Saurashtra Cricket Association and N Srinivasan of Tamil Nadu.

The panel said there was a mandatory cooling off period of three years between two terms. The cooling off period meant one could contest in only one post and not in any other subsequent posts.

The sticking point in the argument. The presence of many state associations meant maximum votes. Maharashtra and Gujarat had three associations and the Lodha Panel wanted to correct the voting pattern. This