Slowing BCCI’s reforms

After the Supreme Court announced its judgment on reforming the Indian cricket board (BCCI), the entrenched officials in cricket’s administration will be more pleased than the reformers. The verdict has diluted two important recommendations of the Lodha Committee — namely, one vote for each state, and a cooling-off period of three years between each term of an office-bearer. Of all the recommendations made by the Lodha Committee, these were most vehemently opposed by the old guard. The reason was obvious — these reforms challenged their power, which they wielded as if by birthright. Two years ago, the Supreme Court had passed a final order approving the Lodha Committee’s recommendations. It’s intriguing that even though BCCI had exhausted all review petitions, the Supreme Court continued to hear the matter and diluted its own judgment of July 2016.

The courts were originally forced to intervene in BCCI’s affairs after the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal was simply swept under the carpet by two retired judges, under the supervision of N Srinivasan, then BCCI president. The Lodha recommendations were aimed at bringing professionalism to cricket’s administration. Though two key recommendations have been diluted, it must be noted that the sense of entitlement of the officials has been challenged. The Supreme Court has ruled that the constitution approved by it cannot be amended by BCCI without ‘the leave of this court’. This would tie the hands of the unscrupulous officials — remember, it was one such amendment that allowed officials such as Srinivasan to hold a commercial stake in cricket run by BCCI.

As the cases draw to a close, there is reason to be optimistic because the hegemony of ancient officials — some of them had been in power for over four decades — has been eroded. It’s likely that they will attempt to rule by proxy, through a relative or a crony. We already have such examples in various state associations. Perhaps the courts will be able to correct this. Eventually, real reform will occur only when cricketers govern BCCI, with the aid of professional managers — the way international tennis or golf are run.