February 22, 2025

Lodha Committee
Some people can see the writing on the wall and change themselves accordingly. Others see it but are so arrogant that they feel they can wipe it off. The people who run the BCCI fall in the second category. They have seen the Supreme Court deliver a hard hitting judgment in the past which suggested reforms in the BCCI, including the overhaul of its outdated and closed Memorandum. The court had appointed the Lodha committee to go into all aspects of the functioning of the board and suggest ways it could be reformed.

BCCI finds committee recommendations unimplementable
Now that the committee has come out with a set of comprehensive measures, the BCCI is saying that most of them are “unimplementable.” It doesn’t come as a surprise as this kind of attitude was expected from the people who run BCCI because they seldom look beyond their own noses. But times have changed. The Supreme Court has time and again said that since the BCCI runs cricket which has a mass following, generates revenues surpassing that of many companies and selects a team that is known as the Indian cricket team, it is answerable to courts as well as the people and cannot be run as a closed club.

Court will not allow power without responsibility
The cozy arrangement that the BCCI has spawns a culture of power broking and back scratching which leads to development of unshakeable power centres. When this is coupled with the patronage of ministers, bureaucrats and politicians, the cocktail becomes cloudy and is detrimental to the game. BCCI wants power without responsibility. The court will not allow this. It has categorically said that if the BCCI does not implement the suggested reforms quickly, it will get the Lodha committee to implement them. In the interest of the game, BCCI should do the needful and get back to the court with solid reasons why it cannot implement those that it considers unimplementable.