The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Board of Control for Cricket in India to release Rs 1.33 crore for two Test cricket matches between India and England, which begin on Thursday, ANI reported. A bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, also granted the cricketing body permission to disburse Rs 25 lakh each for three one-day international and three Twenty-20 games between the teams in January 2017.
The order follows an interim plea filed by the BCCI, seeking the release of funds for the remaining matches of the India-England series, The Times of India reported. The sports body told the bench that it had no way to finance the cricket matches between the two squads if it was not granted relief by the court.
On November 4, reports suggested that the upcoming India-England series may have hit a roadblock on account of BCCI President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke failing to file affidavits with the Supreme Court. The BCCI officials had been directed to submit affidavits about the board’s implementation of the top court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee’s recommendations within three weeks from October 21.
The Lodha panel has accused the BCCI of violating the Supreme Court order. In an affidavit on November 5, the board had said that its state member associations had voted against the proposal to initiate the apex court-directed reforms.
The committee was formed in January 2015 to look into the affairs of the BCCI, after the spot-fixing scandal in the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League.
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