NEW DELHI/ Chennai: The Lodha Committee has proposed to the Supreme Court to disqualify all the existing office-bearers of the BCCI and recommended the name of G.K. Pillai, former home secretary with the Union government, to oversee the daily administration of the cricket board as the “observer”.
If the Supreme Court gives its nod, Mr Pillai would have power to appoint an auditor and all necessary secretarial staff apart from guiding BCCI’s in its administration.
A BCCI official said the committee’s latest proposal would add more confusion in running the cricket body and also puts the cash-rich Indian Premier League in jeopardy.
“From the media rights to Indian team’s shirt sponsor deal, every pending tender process has been delayed. Around 100 tenders are pending mostly pertaining to the IPL which is just four months away,” the administrator said.
Another BCCI source questioned the move to appoint a former government official, Pillai, as the observer citing the committee’s own recommendations.
“After spelling out a lot of criteria for the office bearers, the committee now seems to deviate from its own report by recommending the former home secretary’s name,” said the source.
The media right tender for the IPL has already been deferred with the panel yet to appoint an auditor to oversee the process. The IPL media rights is estimated around $4 billion. “The apparel contract with Nike comes to an end in March, 2017. Now, whether it’s Nike or Adidas or Puma, any sports manufacturing company requires minimum six months to deliver consignments. These are some issues bothering the BCCI,” said the official.
