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Refusing to give an inch to BCCI’s “defiance”, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered that none of the Board’s member State associations will get a single penny from the BCCI coffers till they comply in “letter and spirit” with the Justice R M Lodha Committee reforms.
In a judgement which was not announced beforehand or notified in the court’s cause list, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur stood firm by its October 7 decision to choke the financial jugular of BCCI’s 25 State cricket associations till they fall in line.
The judgement asked the Lodha Committee to fix a ceiling for contracts BCCI can enter into. Contracts valued beyond this cap would require the Lodha panel’s approval.
The judgement, authored by Chief Justice Thakur, asked the Lodha Committee to appoint an independent auditor to scrutinise BCCI accounts and fix the financial limits for contracts. The court ordered the BCCI Secretary and President to file compliance reports before the Justice Lodha panel and itself in two weeks.
It asked the Lodha panel to apprise ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar of the court’s orders.
On October 7, Chief Justice Thakur had made the court’s hard stand clear by ordering that BCCI will not disburse ₹16.73 crore each to 12 State cricket associations. These dozen associations were yet to get the balance payment of their share from nearly ₹2,500 crore BCCI received towards compensation on account of termination of Champion League T20.
Chief Justice Thakur had directed that the pending ₹16.73 crore and any future funds would be released only after the State associations passed resolutions undertaking to comply with the Lodha reforms.
As for the remaining 13 member State associations who have already received ₹16.73 crore, they can only use the money after passing their respective resolutions to implement the Lodha Committee reforms.
The court had made it clear that continued defiance by State associations would witness their shares invested in fixed deposit accounts until they change their minds.
The court had barred further disbursal of amountsor “any subsequent resolution” by the BCCI or its Working Committee, until the State associations submit their written undertakings to unconditionally comply with the Lodha reforms.
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