Hyderabad: The Justice RM Lodha Committee was appointed by the Supreme Court in 2014 to make recommendations to The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in order to prevent frauds and conflict of interest in cricket administration.
According to the committee’s report, it is important to maintain the integrity of the game instead of protecting the interests of select few. Assumptions that selection committees, board election and state-level teams will be reformed in the wake of this committee’s guidelines have been proved false.
After the SC orders, those who expected that the likes of Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah will be denied entry into the board, are shocked. The severity of instructions was diluted, and reforms are being misinterpreted.
Seeing the election of new board members across various regions, it’s clear that the kith and kin of previous board members have been appointed in their place. In Tamil Nadu, which is Srinivasan’s bastion, his daughter Rupa Gurunath took charge of TNCA.
In Saurashtra, Jayadev Shah, son of Niranjan Shah and in Baroda, Pranav Ameen, son of Ameen have been elected. The same scenario repeated in Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha. Several petitions have been filed in SC for violating Lodha committee’s guidelines in Himachal Pradesh.
Appointing blood relations of previous members to make way for corruption is a deadly blow to Indian Cricket.
Justice Mukul Mudgal committee has been appointed by the Supreme Court to probe into the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal. Despite guidelines about committee recommendations on age and tenure guidelines, fraudulent members could not be ousted.
Although the Mudgal committee exposed the corruption of Gurunath Meiyyappan, the son-in-law of Srinivasan, no action was taken against him. Srinivasan, who could not save Gurunath from scandal charges, moved pawns to make his daughter the chairman of the Tamil Cricket Association.
In Himachal Pradesh, MP Anurag Thakur’s brother Arun Dhamal has been appointed so that their corrupt empire remains intact.
Azharuddin, who was banned from cricket on match-fixing charges is now the coach of Hyderabad Cricket Association. The SC has already ruled that only eligible people must be voted to power in BCCI just like in other sports. But the reality is shocking.
Council of Architecture (CoA) has ordered various state boards to get registered in the wake of SC’s orders but many boards ignored it. The elections were not held till SC interfered and proposed a treaty.
Once the CoA tells SC that elections are completed, a new committee will be formed in its place. Nobody is paying heed to the SC’s orders that qualified sportsmen must be made board members. Baroda Cricket Association (BCA), which is the oldest sports organization has 30 unqualified members in its board out of 31.
Nobody is under the false hopes that the October 23rd BCCI elections would create wonders.
BCCI itself has clarified that Rs.350 crores have been spent on fighting cases in CoA-BCCI fight about the implementation of various committees’ guidelines. The gentleman’s game will retain its glory in India only when eligible candidates head the board and when BCCI is made answerable to the Parliament.
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