Politicos stumped by Lodha panel

R M Lodha Committee has called for sweeping changes that will not just the shake the entire set-up of the country’s richest sports body, BCCI, from the very foundation level. A legal sanctity and endorsement for the recommendations will mean administrative epitaph to the grandiose plans of people ranging from Sharad Pawar, Shashank Manohar, N Srinivasan and Anurag Thakur to Rajeev Shukla, among several others

The revamp was long overdue. Restructuring of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been a bone of contention between those running the show like a personal fiefdom and those who were left out for varied reasons or vested interests, whose frustration stemmed from their inability to enjoy the pie, having missed the bus, because, by and large, it is the ‘yes men’ and ‘Man Fridays’ who are accommodated by the ‘I give a damn’ bosses.

It should go to Justice R M Lodha Committee’s credit that it has called for sweeping changes that will not just the shake the entire set-up of the country’s richest sports body from the very foundation level, but also impact the entire hunky-dory business that goes under a cloak of secrecy that only people in power seem to be aware of. This is precisely where the recommendations will hit them hard as would a thunderbolt of the Jeff Thomson variety that felled many a batsman early on. To the legitimate promoters, no-nonsense upright administrators, fellow cricketers and fans, this will be nothing short of realising Utopia in one’s lifetime!

For all practical purposes, BCCI, whose presiding officers call the shots when it comes to the sport’s global policy-making, has enjoyed a monopolistic sway that is getting stronger (and murkier) by the hour. Not just that, despite a nationwide clamour by the rulers of the country, BCCI does not even come under the ambit of the RTI Act. The Lodha panel has done well by addressing this critical issue threadbare and called for such a provision.

Taken on a larger canvas, the suggestions have dramatic far-reaching consequences, should the Supreme Court go with the reforms and call for their implementation in letter and spirit. As things stand, the near impregnable BCCI citadel is everything that is the antithesis of chivalrous sportsmanship, if one goes by the rampant corruption, abuse of power and unbridled favouritism that normally spells disaster during selections, as unhindered pointers.

By barring politicians and government employees from holding office as also incumbent State association members, besides making it mandatory that only former Test cricketers be part of a three-member selection committee, the panel has sought to make the cleansing process just about perfect, so to say. Suggesting that the best way to end the menace of fixing (which is sure to exist for as long the game is played) is by legalising betting is in the fitness of things.

Ostensibly, the players and administrators will not fall into the well-networked enticing traps established by the mafia and booking syndicates that guarantee easy money in return for game-plan information. Seeking IPL as a separate entity that will function minus the involvement of BCCI officials is but natural, given the spate of reforms that have been suggested.

Meanwhile, there are no prizes for guessing that the incumbent BCCI panel must already be engaged in brainstorming sessions to devise ways and means to ensure that their plans are not thrown asunder nor would the scheming plans go awry once the apex court gives its ruling on the recommendations that sound the death-knell. Exploiting loopholes, if any, is what the BCCI officials must be checking for right now.

A double-blow for them would be the formation of a players’ body, which has been an outstanding parallel in Australia, and allowing women into the power structure. If the anti-BCCI players lobby comes to take control then the last fragment of hope of hanging on to the position would vanish into thin air for the non-cricketers who continue to rule the roost.

The three-member committee of restricting of BCCI, comprising Justice (Retd) R M Lodha, Justice (Retd) Ashok Bhan and Justice (Retd) R V Raveendran, while submitting the report to the Supreme Court has reiterated that these are not legally binding on the Board, as yet.

And that must be where the BCCI administrators see the light at the end of the tunnel. A legal sanctity and endorsement for the recommendations will mean administrative epitaph to the grandiose plans of people ranging from Sharad Pawar, Shashank Manohar, N Srinivasan and Anurag Thakur to Rajeev Shukla, among several others.

It will be ditto for several ambitious politicos who head State associations and by default have a policy-making say. Someone like A C Muthiah must be chuckling to himself at this Godsend situation. Even as the entire cricketing world waits for the hour of reckoning with bated breath, the onus is on the apex court.