What’s the story?
Ever since the Supreme Court instructed the BCCI and its associations to implement the Lodha reforms, there has been a scuffle brewing between the Supreme court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) and the BCCI. The Lodha reforms have always threatened to disrupt cricket and at present is pestering those linked to it.
TOI has learnt that several coaches and support staff of the domestic circuit are awaiting their dues for the last six month from their respective state associations.
“Till the time it implements the Lodha reforms, my state associations has been advised to not release any funds. As a result of this, my association is telling me that the board hasn’t released the money due to it, so we’re stuck when it comes to paying it. I humbly request to the BCCI and the COA to intervene in across India and ensure that all the state-level coaches and support staff to get our dues cleared, which have been stuck for the last six months,” a domestic coach was quoted as saying by TOI.
In case you didn’t know...
In January 2015, the Court had appointed a committee which was to look into the functioning of the BCCI and subsequently suggest improvements to its constitution.
On January 4, 2016, the former Chief Justice of India, R M Lodha recommended the three-man committee which quivered BCCI’s hierarchy. Consequently, the BCCI and its state associations took the matter to the Supreme Court and raised objections.
On July 18, 2016, the Supreme Court passed its final order on the case, signing off on most of the Lodha reforms which had the potential to bring about major amendments to the way cricket runs in India.
The heart of the matter
The boards were reluctant to act in accordance with the apex court’s orders and as a result, the Supreme Court had further instructed the BCCI to not provide funds to the state associations until they accepted the reforms. This is now taking a toll on the coaches and support staff of domestic cricket as they haven’t been paid their dues for over six months.
Some well-known personalities among those who are still awaiting their salaries are former India left-arm spinner and present Assam coach – Sunil Joshi, former pacer and current Hyderabad coach – Bharat Arun and current Delhi coach – KP Bhaskar. Generally, the coaches and support staff of the domestic circuit are paid on a monthly basis.
What’s next?
Hopefully, the issue does not escalate further and the Supreme Court along with BCCI cater to it as soon as possible.
Author’s take
It is disappointing to see one of the world’s richest cricket board (BCCI) not being able to pay their domestic coaches and staff for over six months, who work equally as hard as any player or coach in the industry. The members involved in the issue should derive common grounds before the situation worsens.
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