Top BCCI officials in firing line of Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Wednesday will deliberate on the future of three top BCCI office-bearers who have been playing proxy roles in current cricket Board administration.
Acting BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary and acting president CK Khanna are under the scanner following the Committee of Administrators’ status report on the Board’s continuing defiance to implement the Lodha panel recommendations.
The BCCI has become a can of worms and with cricket administration in the doldrums, the CoA is urging the Supreme Court to order a thorough clean up as mandated in the Lodha panel reforms of July last year.
The Vinod Rai committee of administrators, in its fifth status report, has been scathing on how BCCI officials have ‘wasted’ money on travel, hotels and allowances.
Speaking to the Hindustan Times on Monday, CoA chairman Rai said that in the absence of a working committee, the power to manage BCCI affairs lie with the administrators and not on the office-bearers, who are seemingly trying to pull the shots and limit the role of the CEO Rahul Johri.
AFFILIATION TO STATES
The BCCI has also come under fire for no action on recognition to states under NADP (New Area Development Programme) as well as suspended former full member, Bihar.
In a letter to the CoA, the Cricket Association of Bihar has argued that the current Ranji season will feature 28 teams and doesn’t include states like Bihar and North-Eastern States of Arunachal, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.
DEMAND FOR E-AUCTION
The Court will also hear a plea demanding annulment of BCCI’s decision to allow closed tenders for IPL media rights. Although the Lodha panel has asked for e-auctions, the BCCI decided to go ahead with walk-in tenders.
“The recommendation of Lodha panel was that the BCCI should rely on IT services wherever possible,” lawyer Ishkaran Bhandari, representing the petitioner, told HT. “Since this is a closed bid, everything is open to manipulation.” The auction results will be out on August 28.