No ministers, no officials above 70 in BCCI board, SC agrees with Lodha

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday accepted Lodha Committee recommendations and has given BCCI a deadline of six months to implement them in letter.

The apex court accepted the concept of one state, one vote. Maharashtra and Gujarat are allowed to have three associations on rotational basis.

The court however, left it to Parliament to decide whether functioning of BCCI can be brought under RTI as recommended by the Lodha Panel and whether to legalise betting in cricket or not.

However, the court said it would not accept any candidate in BCCI above the age of 70, neither will ministers and bureaucrats be entertained. The Lodha panel will oversee transition from the old to new regime within these six months.

It accepted the panel's recommendation that there should be a player's association in the BCCI and the funding of players' association accepted while leaving it to the Board to decide the extent of funding.

The bench also accepted the recommendation that one person should hold one post in cricket administration to avoid any conflict of interest and scrapping of all other administrative committees in the BCCI after CAG nominee comes in.

Earlier, a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifulla had reserved its verdict on June 30 after a marathon session of over a dozen hearings.

During the hearing which started in March this year, BCCI had been averse to some of the recommendations of Justice RM Lodha led-panel and had objected to suggestions like one state-one vote, age and tenure cap on office-bearers and CAG nominee on its board.

The apex court-appointed Lodha Committee had on January 4 recommended sweeping reforms and an administrative shake-up at the troubled BCCI, suggesting that ministers be barred from occupying positions, a cap put on the age and tenure of the office-bearers and legalising betting.

Some of the state cricket associations, former players Kirti Azad, Bishen Singh Bedi and cricket administrators also approached the apex court with regard to the implementation of Lodha panel recommendations in BCCI.

The three-member panel, also comprising former apex court judges Ashok Bhan and RV Raveendran, had suggested that one unit should represent only one state, while taking away the voting rights of institutional and city-based units.

It suggested restructuring of the BCCI's administrative set-up and proposed a CEO to run daily affairs of the Board who will be accountable to a nine-member apex council.

Among the most sensational suggestions of the Lodha panel was the one on legalising betting. It felt that the move would help curb corruption in the game and recommended that except for players and officials, people should be allowed to place bets on registered websites.

Among other steps, the panel said that to ensure transparency in BCCI's functioning, it was important to bring the body under the purview of the RTI Act, something that the Board has vehemently opposed in the past citing autonomy.