The Supreme Court (SC) has lashed out at the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) for opposing the Lodha Committee recommendations. Apart from citing financial nuances, it also emphasised on the lack of responsibility it has shown towards developing the sport in India.
The panel said, “Out of 29 states, 11 of them receive no funding from BCCI. Cricket is non-existent in the North East and states such as Bihar and Chhatisgarh are like begging bowls. Why did a state like Gujarat get Rs 60 crore, where as Bihar received nothing in return. Goa with a population of just 10 lakhs received Rs 57 crore and Chhatisgarh received absolutely nothing.”
A senior BCCI official told Sportskeeda, “There is no question of a bias here. Bihar is an associate member, plus they refused to submit their audited accounts. Hence we decided not to give them any funds. Wouldn’t the SC do the same? We are being singled out for no reason. The North Eastern states themselves are not interested in playing the sport, then what can be done? They don’t have any problem with this.”
He added, “Railways and Services are government entities, hence they come within their realm. How can we do anything differently to help them?”
The SC also lauded the work done by the Lodha Committee, stating that they found nothing wrong in the recommendations. They said, “this is not an ordinary panel or a ad-hoc committee, this has been setup to specifically target the corrupt and mutually beneficial practices going on within your organisation. We find absolutely nothing perverse in their recommendations and we completely trust their judgement.”
Apart from questioning the monetary distribution policy, the panel also questioned the BCCI’s inability to handle infighting in Jammu and Kashmir. Our source added, “Every sport in India has infighting. Look at boxing, it has been banned so many times, so this is a problem with sport in India. If it’s happening in one state association, it will be fixed, but it doesn’t work over time.”
It remains to be seen how BCCI responds to these allegations, after attempting to restrict the Lodha Committee.
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