The apex court had accepted the Lodha panel report in its July 2016 verdict aimed at streamlining the BCCI to make it more responsive and accountable.
The Supreme Court on Monday indicated that it was ready to reconsider some of the proposals of the Justice R M Lodha Committee including that of ‘one state, one vote’ and restricting the number of selectors to three. “One state, one vote may not be a good idea in this country. There are Railways, Services, Universities, Maharashtra, Baroda. Their arguments have impressed upon us to some extent. We may consider the issue in future debates. How many vote they can have, we will debate,” a bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said.
The court said so after Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar submitted that the ‘one state, one vote’ policy had stripped BCCI members such as Railways and Defence Services and the Association of Indian Universities of their voting rights and reduced them to associate members. The court also indicated that it may go soft on the Lodha panel’s recommendation that the number of selectors be reduced to three from five as well as the criteria to appoint them.
“Earlier, there were not so many matches played like it is played today. Those who played a number of one-day matches may not have played as many Test matches or vice versa. That depends on the player to player,” the apex court said, adding it will put many talented players at a disadvantage if the suggestions of the Lodha panel were followed in the appointment of selectors.
Srini, Shah barred from SGM
The court, however, refused to allow ex-BCCI President N Srinivasan and former cricket administrator Niranjan Shah to attend the Special General Meeting (SGM) scheduled on July 26 as representative of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Saurashtra Cricket Association, respectively. The court directed that only office bearers of state cricket associations can attend the meet.
Forced to resign as BCCI President following the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting controversy, Srinivasan has been opposing the implementation of the Lodha panel report, which recommended that no official above the age of 70 should participate in BCCI affairs. The court directed that at the SGM meet, the state cricket associations will attempt to implement the Lodha recommendations “as far as practicable” and the rest can be taken up in subsequent hearings.
The apex court had accepted the Lodha panel report in its July 2016 verdict aimed at streamlining the BCCI to make it more responsive and accountable. The court also fixed August 18 to hear the matter next when it said it will consider its order of implementation of the Committee’s recommendations by the state associations and also to consider names for the two vacancies that have arisen in the court-appointed Committee of Administrators.
