Attorney General seeks review of Lodha verdict

In a twist to the protracted BCCI versus Lodha committee case, the Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi sought a review of the Supreme Court judgement dated July 18, which ratified a majority of the Lodha proposals. The Attorney General, representing Railways, Services and Universities, said the court order directing BCCI to implement the sweeping reforms also affected the government of India.

Rohatgi and the Indian government's involvement comes in response to the Lodha recommendation, which downgraded the aforementioned three bodies to associate member status as a part of its one-state-one-vote recommendation thereby robbing them of voting privileges.

"Railways, Services, Associations of Universities, are three members of BCCI's [current] 30 full members. They've had voting rights in the last fifty years, have bodies in cricket, give jobs, have stadiums, but now have been downgraded. Full membership has been taken away, their value is being taken away," Rohatgi told the media after Friday's (January 20) hearing.

The Attorney General also questioned the recommendation pertaining to the barring of ministers serving as office bearers of the BCCI. "Why can't the Railway minister not become an office-bearer?," Rohatgi asked.

"I am asking for a recall of your orders. Lodha Committee was appointed by this court to punish those found guilty in the IPL match-fixing. Then you told them to reform cricket. When has the court become a reformist body?" he is said to have asked the new bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra according to The Hindu.

In stark contrast to the dismissive former bench led by now-retired CJI TS Thakur, response, Justice Misra said the court would hear Rohatgi's arguments. "We are not shying away from the legal issues. They are interesting. We will have a debate," he said.

Tenure for Office bearers extended to 9+9 years

The apex court also came clear on the tenure period for administrators. According to the latest order, the nine-year tenure will apply individually for an administrator at the state association and the BCCI levels. There will however, mandatorily, be a cooling off period after every three years at the office.

The interpretation of this order in the January 3 verdict was subject of much confusion with Amitabh Choudhury, the former joint secretary of the BCCI, barred from participating in a selection meeting because of his apparent breach of the verdict.

On that occasion, the confusion over Choudhury's participation stemmed from the apparent obscurity in the nine-year tenure cap recommendation. The Jharkhand administrator has spent nine years in the state association but not in BCCI, something that Johri sought to clarify with the Lodha committee before excluding Choudhury from the meet.

Meanwhile, Gopal Subramanium, the amicus curiae in the BCCI versus Lodha Panel case, submitted a sealed envelope with the list of nine potential interim administrators for the Indian cricket board. However, the Supreme Court of India bench expressed restraint in revealing the names of administrators just yet and will do so in its next hearing on Tuesday (January 24).

According to reports, the list handed in by Subramanium and senior advocate Anil Diwan contains people who are aged over 70, thereby in direct breach of a key Lodha recommendation.

In its January 2 verdict, the apex court had axed Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke from their positions as president and secretary of the BCCI and then directed the amicus curiae and Diwan to appoint an interim three-member panel that will seek to get state associations to fall in line with the Lodha proposals. This body will also handle administration duties till fresh elections for the apex council are held.