The Supreme Court has reserved its judgement in the case concerning implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations by the BCCI. There will be no further hearing in the case and the two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla, will submit the written judgement to the concerned parties. The judgement is likely to be delivered before July 21, the date when Justice Kalifulla retires
Agencies
New Delhi
India's Supreme Court has reserved its judgement in the case concerning implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations by the BCCI. There will be no further hearing in the case and the two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla, will submit the written judgement to the concerned parties. The judgement is likely to be delivered before July 21, the date when Justice Kalifulla retires.
The hearings in the case concluded on Thursday afternoon (June 30) after senior legal counsel KK Venugopal, representing the BCCI, wrapped up his arguments. Before concluding his defence, which lasted nearly 90 minutes, Venugopal said that the BCCI was happy to implement every recommendation made by the Lodha committee barring "six or seven". Asked if the recommendations were the same as listed by former board president Shashank Manohar in May, Venugopal said he was not aware of Manohar's comments.
In May, Manohar, who had stepped down as BCCI president earlier in the month, said, at a media conference, that the board was happy with 75% of the recommendations and was against five suggestions. The five recommendations were: advertisements between overs during a match broadcast, 'one state, one vote', the presence of two members of IPL franchises on the league's governing council, the formation of an apex council, and a cap on the tenure of the office bearers.
Appointed in January 2015 by the Supreme Court, in the aftermath of the investigation into the IPL 2013 corruption scandal, the Lodha panel was tasked with examining, and suggesting changes to, the functioning of the Indian cricket board. The committee presented its report on January 4, recommending sweeping changes and the most important recommendations were aimed at transforming the board's power structure. The committee recommended one-state-one-vote, suggested clear and stringent eligibility criteria for the board's office bearers and set limits on their tenure in office. It recommended that serving ministers and bureaucrats or those above 70 years of age should not be allowed to hold positions on the board or in their state associations, and it stressed on the formation of a players' association.
