Supreme Court pulls up BCCI for delay in implementing Lodha panel recommendations

New Delhi: Even as Virat Kohli & Co take on Australia in the second ODI match at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Thursday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) faced itself being pulled up by the Supreme Court for its delay in implementing recommendations made by the Lodha panel.

The apex court today warned the BCCI of serious consequences for their defiance, and asked SC asked three office bearers – Amitabh Choudhary, Anirudh Chaudhary and CK Khanna – to personally appear again before court on October 30.

BCCI matter: SC asked the three office bearers, Anirudh & Amitabh Choudhary,CK Khanna to personally appear again before court on October 30

— ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2017

In the next hearing, the BCCI officials will be expected to give suggestions to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on the new constitution.

It's worth noting that the Supreme Court-appointed COA on September 8 confirmed that the BCCI's new constitution has been drafted, but said that it's waiting for approval from the court. During its August 23 hearing, the apex court had instructed the COA to prepare a draft of the new constitution as per the Lodha panel recommendations.

"We have completed our work and we will definitely submit the draft constitution in Supreme Court much before the next scheduled hearing on September 19. There will not be a sixth status report," COA chief Vinod Rai had said.

Rai however said that there will be no sixth status report.

In the fifth report, the CoA had asked the apex court to hand over the "governance, management and administration" of the BCCI to them. It claimed that the members would need the help of a professional group, currently headed by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, to run the board.

“The current office-bearers of the BCCI have demonstrated scant regard for the directions issued by the Committee of Administrators and continue to flout the same with impunity,” the CoA noted in the report.

The Indian cricket board has been opposing three main proposals on membership, balance of power between elected office-bearers and professional appointees like the CEO, and the tenure and cooling off period.

The new constitution, reportedlly, has space for one representative per state with voting rights. The MoA has identified 30 states with other BCCI affiliates like the Cricket Club of India, Railways, Universities and Services getting the “associate” membership tage without voting rights.