AGENCIES
NEW DELHI
With less than a week to go before the start of India's first Test against England, the BCCI and ECB have not signed the Memorandum of Understanding, a standard agreement that details various aspects of bilateral series. The hold-up is because the BCCI had asked the Lodha Committee for certain clarifications regarding the MoU, and in response the committee said that forming cricket policy was not part of its remit, but that directions regarding payments to the BCCI could only be given after the board provided more information.
The committee has given the BCCI five days to respond with elaborate details on various contracts the board said it needed to finalise in the next year to avoid disruption of daily business. In an email on Thursday to BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke, the Lodha Committee asked the board to obey the three orders the Supreme Court passed on July 18, October 7 and 21. "To avoid any hindrance to the cricketing calendar and to ensure the continued enjoyment of the sport by its aficionados, the BCCI would be well advised to comply with the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its orders dated 18th July 2016, 7th October 2016 and 21st October 2016," the committee e-mail said. The Committee said to Shirke that the BCCI president Anurag Thakur was required to give an "unqualified" undertaking on behalf of the board to "unreservedly" comply with October 21 order.
On October 21, the Supreme Court had directed the BCCI not to distribute funds to state associations until they agreed to comply with the Lodha Committee's recommendations, which the court had approved in an order on July 18. The court also asked Shirke and Thakur to meet the Lodha Committee by November 3 and placed several restrictions on the board's ability to enter into contracts.
The committee had already sent Thakur an email reminder earlier this week and it told Shirke on Thursday: "The requirement for such an undertaking is not a mere formality. In the absence of the undertaking, the Committee finds it difficult to implement the order of the Supreme Court by issuing necessary directions to BCCI."
On October 28, Shirke had sent an email to the committee, asking for intervention on a "priority basis" because failing to do so would "severely prejudice" cricket operations. Shirke told the committee that decisions concerning a lot of important contracts had been left pending.
