Justice Lodha Not Happy With Progress of BCCI Reforms
Nov 21, 2017 at 2:04 PM
As the progress over the implementation of the Justice RM Lodha Panel recommendations is continuing, the architect of reforms, Justice (Retd) RM Lodha expressed his disappointment with the same in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times.
The Supreme court had directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to implement the Justice RM Lodha Panel recommendations almost 18 months ago, but the progress has been very negligible.
When asked about the progress he quoted,
“I am disappointed, especially since the Supreme Court had given a clear verdict. The review petition of the BCCI has been dismissed and so has its curative petition. There shouldn’t have been any hindrance, but the dilly-dallying is very disappointing.”
He also spoke about if things have changed after the retirement of justice TS Thakur.
“Well, you may say things were moving fast while he was there. But having said that, implementation of the law isn’t dependent on one individual. The judiciary is an institution, and irrespective of an individual, things keep moving forward.”
“The Committee of Administrators should have straightaway gone to the Registrar of Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, under which the BCCI is registered, to ring in the changes. After all, CoA had with it the Supreme Court verdict, which said the board needs a complete overhaul. By not doing so, they have given a lifeline to the board officials who aren’t willing to leave their posts and (are instead) coming up with bogeys to delay the implementation. The CoA should have taken a firm step at the start.”
Speaking about the capability of the CoA to carry out the reforms he said things have become tough after the exit of Ramchandra Guha and Vikram Limaye.
“It was a four-member panel initially, but for the past few months, the strength has dwindled with the exit of Ramchandra Guha and Vikram Limaye. In my opinion, Vinod Rai is alone up there and probably finding it tough to take strong calls. Having more heads is much better than having one. I think the Court should have immediately restored the strength of the CoA so that Rai’s task could have become easier.”
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