Lodha Committee recommendations to Supreme Court on Indian cricket: All you need to know
Lodha Committee recommendations to Supreme Court on Indian cricket: All you need to know
The three-member Justice RM Lodha Committee on Monday submitted its recommendations on Indian cricket, to the Supreme Court. The Lodha Committee comprised of three retired judges; Justice RM Lodha, Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice RV Raveendran, and was formed by the apex court of India in the wake of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 spot-fixing and betting scandal. In its recommendations made on Monday to the Supreme Court, the Lodha Committee has asked for two separate governing bodies for the IPL and and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), bringing the cricket governing body under the RTI Act, and barring politicians or government servants to take any kind of roles with the BCCI. Here are the key points/recommendations made by the Lodha Committee in its report to the Supreme Court:
Separate governing bodies for the IPL and the BCCI: The Lodha Committee acknowledged that the BCCI has somewhat failed to run the IPL — which garners massive amount of interest from overseas — in the way it was expected to. Hence the Lodha Committee has said that the IPL Governing Council must be given limited autonomy — which includes financial decision making. The IPL GC should hence report to the BCCI. ALSO READ: Lodha Committee recommend separate governing bodies for IPL and BCCI
Create an association for cricketers: The Lodha Committee raised strong objection on the fact that there has never been a players’ association in India for cricketers. The BCCI has been recommended to constitute a players’ association, in which former union home secretary GK Pillai will act as the chairperson. Former India cricketers Mohinder Amarnath, Anil Kumble and woman cricketer Diana Edulji will form the Steering Committee, which would fasten the process of the creation of players’ association. All costs for the same will be managed by the BCCI. The Committee has proposed players’ associations, along with the registration of agents.
Government officials/politicians cannot be BCCI officials: The Lodha Committee has recommended that politicians and government servants with any profile cannot take roles in the BCCI.
BCCI under RTI Act: This has been a burning issue. The creation of National Sports Federation (NSF) would have witnessed BCCI coming under RTI, but that seems to have taken the backseat. The Lodha Committee has once again brought the issue in light of bringing the BCCI under the RTI Act.
Legalise betting in India: The Lodha Committee said, “As far as betting alone is concerned, many of the respondents before the Committee were of the view that it would serve both the game and economy if it were legalised as has been done in the United Kingdom. It cannot be overlooked that the worldwide legal sports betting market is worth over 400 billion dollars. However, with the interest of cricket being foremost in our minds, it would always be necessary to protect and invoke transparency from those involved in the game.”
Structure of the BCCI (1): The Lodha Committee recommended that only one association should represent an entire state. For better understanding, the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra have 3 different full members, whereas there are massively populous states such as Bihar with no representation at all. In this case, one association would have complete representation while others will work as Associates. Governing bodies without territories will be termed Associates as well. ALSO READ: BCCI suggests selling CSK and RR for 2 years to Lodha Committee
One State One Vote: States like Maharashtra and Gujarat, which have multiple governing bodies operating, will be allowed with only one vote but the bodies will not be demolished. For instance, in Maharashtra, all of Vidarbha Cricket Association, Mumbai Cricket Association and Maharashtra Cricket Association will co-exist but only the body in power will be allowed to vote. Those who do not have territories should be allowed to operate but not vote.
These are the full members of BCCI who do not have any territory: Association of Indian Universities, Railways Sports Promotion Board, Services Sports Control Board, Cricket Club of India, National Cricket Club,Maharashtra Cricket Association, Vidarbha Cricket Association, Baroda Cricket Association, Saurashtra Cricket Association.
No representation to women cricketers: The Lodha Committee said, “The BCCI has never seen a woman in the Working Committee, and for a body that runs the sport in the country, the BCCI ought to have bestowed greater attention to the women’s game. Australia, New Zealand, England and even Pakistan are seen to regularly play the women’s game with only governance apathy responsible for the Indian women’s team playing few and far between in all forms of the game. Greater support and promotion is required so that youngsters may also be attracted to it.”
Constitution of the Apex Council: The Committee said to have fair governance, the BCCI should have a mix of elected and independent representatives in the Apex Council. It said, “It is recommended that it shall be a nine-member body. The five elected Office Bearers of BCCI (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Joint Secretary and Treasurer) shall be the members of the Apex Council. In addition, the Apex Council shall have four other ‘Councillors’ – two (one male, one female) to be nominated by the Players’ Association which is to be formed, one to be elected by the Full Members of BCCI from amongst themselves and one to be nominated by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.”
Separation of roles: The Committee wants the BCCI to have two departments, one managing the non-cricketing matters and the other handling purely the cricketing ones. It said, “While the non-cricketing management will have to be by professional managers headed by a CEO (who will act as a nodal officer), the pure cricketing matters (selection, coaching and performance evaluation) deserve to be left exclusively to the ex-players who have the greater domain knowledge, except for umpiring which should similarly be handled exclusively by umpires. As also the CEO, these Cricket and Umpires Committees would be accountable directly to the Apex Council. The IPL’s Governing Council would however report directly to the general body of the BCCI.”
3 new roles in BCCI: The Lodha Committee has asked for the creation of three new posts in the BCCI, which are (1) Ombudsman, (2), Ethics Officer and (3) Electoral Officer. Explaining this, the Committee said, “The functioning of the BCCI cannot be truly transparent and independent without the creation of 3 new authorities essential to its functioning in its new avatar. One to resolve internal conflicts independent of the BCCI, another to administer the principles governing conflict of interest, and a third to ensure that the process of selecting office bearers is clean and transparent.”