BCCI gets more grief in Supreme Court for slow pace of reforms

The Supreme Court was surprised on Friday at the BCCI’s aggressive stance against the Lodha panel report and the court’s jurisdiction over the matter, saying the board was not “keen to reform”.

BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) counsel KK Venugopal told a bench headed by chief justice TS Thakur the board was a private body and not amenable to a review by the court. He argued an individual could approach the registrar of societies if aggrieved with the board’s functioning.

“You are arguing I refuse to be reformed. What you are trying to say is that I can’t be questioned. I can be taken to the police station or the court of law if I do any wrong. But I refuse to be reformed?” the bench said when Venugopal challenged the top court’s jurisdiction to dictate the board.

Venugopal’s aggressive posturing came days after the court pulled up the board for distributing funds to state bodies without an audit.

But the court remained unconvinced. “You mean to say you can have money worth thousands of crores. You can distribute the money, on which you can ask no question, cannot maintain control, but you cannot be held accountable? Is the money that BCCI has not in trust with you to be spent in the right way?” it asked the board.

The bench said the board had failed to act against allegations of match fixing and betting.

CONTINUED ON P13