Hyderabad Cricket Association accepts Lodha Panel reforms

What’s the story?

The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has amended its constitution in accordance with the Lodha Panel recommendations and has become the third state association affiliated to the BCCI to conform to the Supreme Court’s order.

The constitution was adopted uniformly on Sunday during a special general meeting at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad. So far, the Vidarbha Cricket Association has been the only BCCI member to become fully compliant with the Lodha reforms, while Tripura’s new constitution, that was also adopted recently is being scrutinized.

“We have already sent emails to the committee of administrators (CoA) and the BCCI, showing HCA’s conformity to the Supreme Court order. We are expecting the release of funds very soon,” T Shesh Narayan, the HCA secretary, told Indian Express.

The Supreme Court had directed the BCCI to freeze the fund distribution to the states until they adhere to the Lodha guidelines and restructure their constitutions.

In case you didn’t know...

The Justice RM Lodha-led panel had recommended sweeping changes to the BCCI’s administrative structure through a series of reforms, which were mandated by the Supreme Court of India on July 18, 2016.

Since then, the board’s old guard has been at loggerheads with the Court – and astonishingly so, given that they have been defying the order of the highest court of the land – and has created several obstacles to the path of successful reformation by opposing recommendations like ‘one-state-one-vote’ policy, the age cap of 70 years for administrators, and a cumulative 9-year tenure at the helm with cooling off periods in between.

The latest in this series of developments is the seven-member special committee formed by the BCCI to assess the problems in implementing the Lodha reforms, which is being chaired by Rajiv Shukla, the IPL Chairman, and has former India captain and the Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly as its member.

Details

The HCA secretary said the newly-drafted constitution would be sent to the BCCI in a week’s time and that the process would be completed by July 14. Thereafter, HCA expects the release of funds to be reinstated by the BCCI.

An HCA press release said that out of the 155 members of the association who attended the meeting, four objected to the formulated constitution contending that the Supreme Court may be asked to review its order.

“RM Bhaskar, S Venkateshwaran, Ajmal Asad, C Babu Rao objected that the meeting and amendments cannot be conducted and contended that Supreme Court may review its own orders. However, rejecting the same, the President (G Vivekanand) read entire minutes appraising the members:

“The Special General Body unanimously adopted all the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee reforms and implemented the judgment of the Supreme Court in CA No. 4235/14, dated 18-7-2016 in its letter and spirit in toto.”

What’s next?

With the new constitution adopted, the ball is in the BCCI’s court now to ratify it and thereby make the HCA fully compliant with the Lodha guidelines.

As for the BCCI, the special committee convened needs to file its report to the board by July 9, so that the objections to the Court’s order could be narrowed down to ‘three to four points,’ as requested by the CoA, and be presented in the Court when it takes up the case next on July 14.

Author’s take

The HCA has set a defining precedent for all other boards to look at and emulate by drafting this constitution. Also, this move asks questions about the non-compliance that a majority of the state associations have practiced since the orders were mandated.

Three of the state associations have already accepted the reforms in their entirety, and if a fellow member is ready to be reforms-compliant, why can’t the others be?

The knee-jerk comments and reactions, the most recent of which is Niranjan Shah’s comment on the age cap of administrators while comparing himself to the President of India, have only obstructed the path of implementation.

The BCCI is expected to take a call on the issue at hand, lest it is not probably fed with morsels hard to digest by the Supreme Court on July 14.