Foundation stone taken out: Justice Lodha unhappy with SC's verdict on BCCI reforms

New Delhi: Following the Supreme Court diluted the Lodha committee recommendations, approving Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Constitution, Retired Justice R. M. Lodha expressed his disappointment saying that the judgement has taken out the foundation stone.

The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Thursday diluted the recommendations made by the Lodha committee and approved the draft constitution submitted by the BCCI with some modifications.

Speaking to ANI, Justice Lodha said, "I will not say that I am shocked but I'm surely disappointment; because these were two fundamental recommendations made by us in our report and it would have introduced good reforms in the administration, management and governance sector. They have diluted the reforms (one State, one vote, and cooling off period of the office bearers) which had all been accepted by Supreme Court (on July 18, 2016)."

He further said that the idea of Lodha panel recommendation was to break the monopoly of office-bearers who have been long in power. "Unless they are removed there won't be space for newcomers. Our reforms were aimed to stop these officials from building their kingdom for six years," Justice Lodha added.

"Such reforms were needed to lay a strong foundation. We had worked very hard, spoken to so many stakeholders connected with the game. It had been a really a long and comprehensive exercise," he added.

According to the new amendments made in BCCI's draft constitution, cooling-off period of the Board's officials has been changed and the office bearers would now be allowed to serve two consecutive terms in the office instead of one.

Apart from that, the court discarded the 'one state one vote' policy, according to which the regional affiliates of the BCCI would not be eligible for the voting rights. The court also granted full membership to Mumbai Cricket Association, Vidarbha, and Railways.