The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Tuesday named former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly, Indian Premier League chairman Rajeev Shukla, and other five members to oversee the implementation of the Lodha Committee reforms, PTI reported. The seven-member committee, to be headed by Shukla, has been asked to recognise the critical points mentioned in the reforms before they are submitted to the Supreme Court.
It was proposed in the board’s Special General Meeting on Monday that a committee must be formed to implement the Justice RM Lodha Committee reforms. Others on the committee are – Jay Shah of Gujarat Cricket Association, Naba Bhattacharjee of North East representative, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhari, BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and Kerala Cricket’s TC Mathew.
Since the matter is scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court on July 14, the panel has been asked to meet before the date. “The committee is requested to fix an early date for its meeting in order to ensure that the above task in undertaken with utmost urgency and its written report circulated by the General Body and finalised prior to the above hearing,” the BCCI’s statement read.
The panel is expected to meet on June 30 with their inputs, NDTV reported. The members have also been asked to update BCCI acting president CK Khanna over the progress, who will then submit the report to the General Body.
The contentious recommendations of the Lodha Committee are its “one-state, one-vote” policy, an age limit of 70 for office-bearers in cricket administration, finalising the number of members on the national selection panel, among others. Former BCCI President N Srinivasan had also attended the meeting on Monday as a representative of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, IANS reported. As per the recommendations, Srinivasan would not be eligible to remain in the administration as he is 72-years-old.
Besides Lodha panel recommendations, the matter of playing with Pakistan in bilateral series and the suspension of the Rajasthan Cricket Association over corruption allegations were also discussed.
The Lodha committee was formed after the spot-fixing and betting scandal emerged during the Indian Premier League in 2013. The apex court had directed the BCCI to implement the reforms suggested by the panel in July 2016. In October, however, the board voiced its reservations against some of the “impractical” reforms suggested by the committee.
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