New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday said the functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India should be “transparent and visible” and observed that the apex cricket body was “refusing to reform” and resisting some of the important recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee.
“You are discharging a public function… It has to be transparent and visible,’’ said the apex court bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla. “Your position is that I am accountable to registrar of societies (in Tamil Nadu where BCCI is registered as a society) but refuse to reform.”
“You are dealing with hundreds of crores of rupees. Do you say that you have complete immunity and that you can’t be questioned how you spend hundreds of crores of rupees, if not thousands, that you collect from the public. Can we record that statement,” the bench observed as senior counsel K.K. Venugopal opposed the recommendation to have a CAG representative on the country’s top cricket board.
“How will the presence of the government nominee or that of a CAG violate the ICC rules,” the court asked Venugopal, who appeared for the BCCI. The court’s query came as the BCCI told it that the presence of the CAG representative as suggested by Justice Lodha Committee would result in the de-recognition of the apex cricket body from the International Cricket Council as it would be viewed as governmental interference in the affairs of an independent and autonomous sports body.
Asking Venugopal to show “How the presence of a government nominee or CAG would violate ICC rules and attract de-recognition”, the bench observed, “You are opposing the nomination of the CAG (on the board) as it would make you vulnerable to de-recognition but you are all advocating involvement of ministers and bureaucrats … Does it not create government influence or presence.”
Telling senior counsel Venugopal that the public money that BCCI was holding as Trust was for the promotion of the game of cricket, the bench said: “The money that you have is in your trust. Are you not accountable to the beneficiaries? This money is in trust with you for whose benefits? It is for the benefit of the people who watch matches, are you not accountable to them?”
In an attempt to tell the court that the BCCI was changing in its own way, Venugopal said: “We are now going to appoint a consultant for the better management of our affairs.” He reiterated the BCCI’s position that they would be accountable for their actions before the statutory authorities. He told the court that the board was implementing the Lodha Committee recommendations, but would not accept some of them, in respect of which the cricket body was protected by Article 19(1)(c) of the constitution.
