The Story:
The BCCI has set up a committee comprising of its own members to find and learn about “exceptional and extremely limited areas of difficulty” in the implementation of the Lodha reforms. The committee will provide suggestions for quick implementations of the guidelines to the court-appointed panel Committee of Administrators (CAC). The decision was announced in the recently conducted SGM.
The panel will be led by Rajiv Shukla and includes BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, vice-president TC Mathew, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, Nabha Bhattacharjee, the secretary of the Meghalaya Cricket Association, Jay Shah, the joint-secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association and Sourav Ganguly, president of Cricket Association of Bengal and the only cricketer out of the eight.
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Niranjan Shah Joins The New Committee
Former Saurashtra Cricket Association secretary Niranjan Shah has been added to the BCCI’s new committee. His inclusion, however, can cause come debate regarding two Lodha criteria – the age cap of 70 years for office bearers and the tenure cap of nine years with cooling-off periods in between. Shah may bring up the two facts, as he has already actively opposed those two reforms which the BCCI is unwilling to adopt.
But, it is understood that Shah was brought in as “an invitee” which means that he will be acting as a member but will not have any voting power.
“Now that Niranjan and N Srinivasan are on the same page, the opposition to the Lodha report at the SGM gained momentum,” a senior state association official from the south zone had told ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday.
Another official from the west zone said that Srinivasan had suggested the inclusion of a few members to the committee at the SGM. “Apart from Shah, he wanted the likes of Ranjib Biswal to be added to it”.
Debate Over The Age Criteria set To Occur
The first meeting will be held on July 1. The meeting coincides with a similar meeting that the Committee of Administrators has scheduled.
The board’s new committee has to submit its report on July 10, with the next hearing of the Supreme Court case involving the Lodha recommendations on July 14.