The Hon’ble Supreme Court, on Monday, banned Mr. N.Srinivasan, former BCCI president and representative of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and Mr. Niranjan Shah, member of the special committee formed for the implementation of the Lodha Panel reforms, from attending Special General Meeting of the BCCI meetings that is to take place on the 26th of July, 2017.
The Court, after one year after passing the order for the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations, has been considering the idea of replacing some of them. Although the court did not spell out the specific ones it would re-open for debate, it did indicate that recommendations such as the one-state-one-vote policy, and the reduction in the size of the selection panel – which has already taken place – would be part of the discussions at the next hearing on August 18.
This has come after Mr. N Srinivasan, who was booked for spot fixing and betting scandal, had to step down as the President of the BCCI, in 2015, amid the allegations that he had been violating the Recommendations given by the Lodha Committee on age and tenure issues.
In an interim order, the court directed the BCCI and state associations to approve as many recommendations “as far as practicable”.
The Hon’ble Bench, comprising of Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and D. Y. Chandrachud, held that “All concerned (BCCI and state associations) shall implement the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee Report as far as practicable, barring the issues which have been raised pertaining to membership, number of members of the selection committee, concept of associate membership, etc.”
It was further stated by the Hon’ble Court, that, “The purpose is to implement the report as far as practicable and, thereafter, it shall be debated as to how the scheme of things can be considered so that the cricket, the ‘gentleman’s game’, remains nearly perfect.”
The date for the next hearing has been set for August 18, 2018.
