The Supreme Court on Monday appointed a four-member committee of administrators led by former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai to run the affairs of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and implement court-approved recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.
Other three members of the committee of administrators are noted historian Ramachandra Guha, Vikram Limaye, Managing Director of Infrastructure Development Fiance Company (IDFC) and former Indian women cricket captain Diana Edulji, who would interact with Rahul Johri, CEO of BCCI, for supervision and functioning of the cricket Board.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra also paved the way for the Indian Cricket Board's representation in the upcoming crucial ICC meeting starting from February 2 by appointing cricket administrators Amitabh Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhary of BCCI alongwith Limaye for the purpose.
While naming the four members for the committee of administrators (COA), the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, rejected the suggestion of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to appoint Secretary of Union Sports Ministry as one of the administrators, saying its July 18, 2016 judgement had specifically debarred ministers and government servants from holding any office in the BCCI.
This comes nearly a month after then BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke were removed by the top court from their posts on January 2.
The shake up in the sports body is being done on the recommendations of Justic Lodha committee, which was formed by the Supreme Court to reform the BCCI.
The bench also made it clear that the BCCI CEO would report to this AOA and, with the assistance of the counsel of the Board, apprise the administrators about the implementation of the Lodha panel recommendations accepted by the apex court.
The COA will place before the apex court within four weeks from today the report about the recommendations for reforms in the cricket body complied with by BCCI, it said.
The list of names, from which the names for the COA were shortlisted, were placed in sealed covers by senior advocates and amicus curiae, Anil Divan and Gopal Subramaniam, and Kapil Sibal, who represented some state cricket associations including Himachal Pradesh.
Senior advocate Arvind Datar, representing BCCI, had given the list names for selecting representative for the ICC meeting being held between February 2 to 4.
