Lodha panel recommends BCCI to include more cricketers than politicians

New Delhi: A panel led by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha presented its report on BCCI today and called for sweeping changes in the most influential governing body in the world.

Lodha said that the committee discussed with all the stakeholders especially the cricketers. Six former captains were also asked to provide suggestions. The cricketers included Bishan Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble.

The committee recommended that every state should have a single governing body. Currently, some states like Maharashtra has three different bodies and cricket teams namely Maharashtra, Mumbai and Vidarbha. It also said that the bodies which have no territory like Sevices or Railways should be relegated to associate status with no voting rights.

The panel further recommended for a separate body for BCCI and IPL.

The committee recommended that the controlling body of IPL should be known as the governing council, which will comprise of nine members. The secretary and the treasurer of the BCCI will be ex-officio members of this IPL governing council. Two other members of the IPL governing council will be nominated/elected by the full members. Out of the remaining five, two will be the nominees of franchises, one will be a representative of the players association (so one needs to be formed), one will be a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's office.

The committee also recommended the formation of a constitution and a players association and an apex council. These all will be there so that complaints can be received and the rights of players can be safeguarded.

The appointed ombudsman will be given the right to take cognizance of complaints suo moto, or received a complaint or referred complaint by apex council. The ombudsman should be a judge of the Supreme court or the retired judge of a High court.

A former High court judge should be appointed as an ethics officer. There should be an appointment of an electoral officer to oversee the election process of BCCI and that officer should be a former election commissioner of India.

The biggest recommendation is to bring BCCI under the jurisdiction of RTI and there must be certain eligibility criteria for appointment of office bearers of BCCI including the president, VP, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer. The criteria include that he must be an Indian citizen, he must be below 70 years of age, he must not be insolvent, he must not be a minister or a government servant, and should not have held office in the BCCI for a cumulative period for nine years.

Each office bearer will have a tenure of three years and no office bearer can hold the office for more than three terms with the rider that there will be a cooling off after each term. This means no office bearer can hold terms consecutively.

The panel also recommended that selection committee should comprise only of ex-cricketers. Even the state board should have cricketers, not politicians.

Lauding the good work by the BCCI over the years, Lodha said that the recommendations are not binding for the BCCI. It is up to the Supreme Court to decide on the enforcement of the recommendations, he added.(Image-Cricinfo.com)