The Supreme Court came up with a crucial verdict which gave the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a massive shock. The apex court suspended board president Lt. Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke from their respective posts for not implementing the reforms set by Lodha committee.
Further, the SC is all set to replace the BCCI top brass with a panel of administrators.
Hours later the verdict was given, Justice R M Lodha appreciated the decision adding that it is a victory for cricket. On the other hand, sacked BCCI chief Anurag Thakur said in a statement that if the court wants to run the board under retired judges then his wishes are with them.
But, along with this verdict there are certain questions rising about the future proceedings within the BCCI and the businesses falling under board’s administration.
The show cause notice, in simple terms, seeks why such charges shouldn’t be pressed against him. If found guilty, the now-former president stands to serve a jail sentence.
Who will ‘Head’ the board now?
The operational business of the board will now be governed by a committee which will be appointed by Fali S Nariman and amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium on January 19 which will be on interim basis. Till then, Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO will be looking over the daily operations. once a cleaned up system gets facilitated in the mainstream, the Lodha Committee will be the top supervising body.
Secondly, as directed by the apex court, the senior most serving vice-president will be the President and same will be followed for the post of secretary. Amitabh Choudhary, the joint secretary of the BCCI, will take Ajay Shirke’s place following the same guidelines. These two persons will assume office after submitting a written undertaking that they would stick to the SC reforms and Lodha Panel’s guidelines.
What actually will happen on January 19?
The apex court has assigned Fali Nariman and amicus curiae G Subramaniam to appoint a committee on January 19 which shall look after the business operations of the BCCI. This committee will serve in an interim arrangement till all the orders by the court get implemented.
What about the ‘Lodha Panel Reforms’? Who would follow that?
Till now all the domestic cricket associations except Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Tripura and Hyderabad need to implement the reforms.
Will this verdict affect the upcoming schedule of the Indian cricket team?
There will be no effect on the schedules of the Indian team and the games will take place as planned. However, the administrative body will look over the in-office proceedings.
In October 2016, the SC asked the board to stop all the funding to the domestic cricket boards until they accept the reforms and thus, frozen all the BCCI owned bank accounts. Later, when the BCCI raised the problem of shortage of fund to conduct the then-ongoing series against New Zealand, the SC declared that the board is free to conduct all its routine transactions and can go ahead with the series.
Next Step could BCCI go for
BCCI can challenge the Supreme court’s January 2 verdict by filing a review and curative petition.
