BCCI to hold Special General Meeting regarding Lodha reforms on July 12
What’s the story?
An SGM (Special General Meeting), will be held by the BCCI on July 12, with the sole agenda of discussing the implementation of the Lodha reforms in the Indian cricketing infrastructure. The meeting will be convened by Amitabh Choudhary, the BCCI's acting secretary.
The first meeting of the seven-member committee appointed by the BCCI to study the Lodha committee recommendations will now be held on July 8 instead of July 7. The reason is that Jay Shah, one of the seven members of the committee, will not be available on the previous day.
The other members of the committee include IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly, former Kerala Cricket President TC Mathew, Naba Bhattacharjee, Anirudh Chaudhry and Niranjan Shah.
Also read: Niranjan Shah slams the age-limit reform of the Lodha committee
In case you didn’t know...
The BCCI and the Lodha Committee have been at loggerheads ever since the latter was formed by the Supreme Court. The SC appointed the Lodha Committee in January 2015 to incorporate transparency in the functioning of the BCCI and make suitable amendments to its constitution.
Exactly a year on, former Chief Justice of India, RM Lodha, unveiled the recommendations of the committee, most of which were met with stiff resistance from the BCCI and its secondary panels.
The details
There have been several reports over the last few days that claim that the BCCI is likely to accept most of the Lodha reforms, apart from the cooling-off rule and the one-state-one-vote clause.
The cooling-off clause states that any official of the BCCI cannot serve for two consecutive terms. He must have a ‘cooling-off’ period of at least three years before being considered for the post again. However, most BCCI officials, along with some members of the special committee, believe that this would hamper the transition and continuity between two terms of the board.
On the other hand, the one-state-one-vote rule talks about the equal distribution of voting power among the cricketing states of the country. The BCCI though has opposed this rule as it believes that the states that have contributed to a greater extent to Indian cricket over the years deserve to have a dominant voice.
What’s next?
A Supreme Court hearing to rule over the implementation of the reforms and the BCCI’s suggestions will be held on July 14, thereby giving the BCCI just 48 hours to come up with a definitive solution in its SGM scheduled for July 12.
The recommendations of the Shukla-led special committee will hold considerable weight in the meeting.
Author’s take
This tussle between the two parties has been going on for far too long now. I am of the hope that the Supreme Court hearing of July 14 will be the final chapter of this tale, a chapter that will ensure that Indian cricket moves forward in the most transparent and efficient way possible.