The Supreme Court has given the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) top-brass an opportunity to have their say in the draft constitution which has been prepared by the Committee of Administrators (CoA).
However, there is a catch, as the apex court has made it clear the BCCI officials would face a serious consequence if they fail to give their suggestions on the new constitution in three weeks’ time. The court also instructed that the draft should include the Justice Lodha panel recommendations.
“The draft Constitution shall include the suggestions given by the Justice Lodha Committee in its entirety,” the court ordered.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra made it clear that the new draft should include all the reforms suggested by the Lodha panel to have a holistic document when the apex court gives its final verdict. The Supreme court, on Thursday (September 21), slammed BCCI’s top-officials – Amitabh Choudhary, C.K. Khanna and Anirudh Chawdhry present in the court in compliance with its August 23 order summoning them to appear before it, for not playing their part in the implementation of the Lodha panel reforms.
In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had vented its displeasure over the Indian board’s failure to comply with the court’s order and implement the recommendations of the Lodha panel. The court had also directed the Vinod Rai-panel to prepare a draft constitution of the BCCI, keeping in mind its earlier judgment and order on the Lodha panel recommendations.
The next hearing has been fixed on October 13 with the court ordering all the three BCCI office-bearers to attend the court on that date. Meanwhile, the top BCCI officials have assured the apex court that they would give ‘absolute cooperation’ with the Lodha recommendations while drafting their recommendations.