New Delhi: A marathon session of over a dozen hearings on implementation of Justice RM Lodha panel recommendations on structural reforms in BCCI came to an end in the Supreme Court on Thursday, which took the cricket board to task over issues like fund utilisation and avoiding of performance audits.
The apex court made critical remarks on the issue of fund allocation and utilisation after it was told that office-bearers of Goa Cricket Association, which in the last five years had received Rs 141 crore from BCCI, were recently arrested on charges of misappropriation.
Amicus curiae and senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam not only briefed a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifulla about the arrest of the President, Secretary and Treasurer of the Goa Cricket Association, but also spoke about the affairs of other boards like Saurashtra Cricket Association and Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).
While he was making the submissions, senior advocate Nalini Chidambram, appearing for Cricket Association of Bihar whose secretary Aditya Verma has approached the apex court, trained the guns on the newly-appointed BCCI president Anurag Thakur, claiming he was facing three criminal cases and has been elected to head the cash-rich sports body.
Subramanian supported her submissions saying that the Lodha committee had said if any person is chargesheeted, it is a serious issue and he should be kept away from the affairs of the sports body.
He said the affairs of cricket of Saurashtra Cricket Association was such that not only its members, but people associated with it like drivers, servants and children were the members of the association.
Subramaniam also touched upon the messy affairs of DDCA, saying a postal address from Shakur Basti in North West Delhi showed it was a 48 square meter area, but it had 14 members of the association.
"How many members can live in 48 square metres? But from one such address, there are 14 members in the DDCA," he said adding that even sham bills were created for payments and contractors not paid for work done at Ferozshah Kotla stadium.
