Committee of Administrators reports negligence of implementing Lodha reforms by BCCI

The Committee of Administrators (COA) has presented their first status report on the negligence by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and state cricket associations to comply with the steps that had to be implemented as per the Lodha Committee. The report, which has been submitted to the Supreme Court on Saturday, talks about the prescribed steps that were put down as part of the policies by Lodha Committee and were to be followed before September 2016. The Supreme Court will start the hearing on the matter today, considering the COA's remark, "Step not complied with", against all of the 15 steps set for the board.

The report includes the two set of timelines fixed by the Lodha Committee, since it's appointment on January, the status for the same submitted by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri on February 10, and individual observations of the COA for the implementation of recommendations, according to ESPNCricinfo.

The first set of timelines that dates from September 30- October 15, 2016, includes advice for appointing a new memorandum and rules and regulations by the BCCI. Apart from this, other inclusions are the revision in constitutions of state cricket associations and in certain code of conduct of Indian Premier League (IPL), and the application of the 'one-state-one-vote' policy to be implemented in Gujarat and Maharashtra, as they have more than one state association.

The second set of timeline, dated November 15- December 30 2016, featured proposals for conducting elections for state cricket associations, which has been conducted only in Vidarbha, Hyderabad and Tripura, as of now. Similarly the report suggests holding elections for BCCI and BCCI Annual General Meeting (AGM). The report also featured suggestions on the appointment of an ethics officer and ombudsman, making of a governing council for IPL and engagement of a management under the new rules.

Speaking in defiance on the report submitted, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said that the new memorandum and rules and regulations were "not implemented" because the "BCCI members in their meeting need to accept this with 3/4th majority as per present rules".. He also went on to state on the appointment of an ethics officer and ombudsman, which is also one of the recommendations, that it can be carried out only after that new, elected members council of members of state cricket associations come forward in a BCCI meeting to form an apex council.

The report also talks about the changes made in IPL and its rules, like the code of conduct for players and team officials, the anti-corruption code, anti-racism code, and the operational rules. Advocating the move, Johri said that the amendments were decided during the special general meeting of BCCI, held in September 2016; however the minutes of the meeting were yet to be approved.