BCCI asks Supreme Court to review verdict on Lodha Committee recommendation

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket India in India (BCCI) on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking the review of its July 18 verdict asking the country`s apex cricketing body to implement the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations for transparency and accountability in its functioning and limiting the involvement of ministers and government officials.

Seeking an open court hearing of its review plea, the BCCI has also urged Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur to recuse from hearing the plea saying that he suffered from an "inherent bias" citing his statement in the matter of All India Football Federation (AIFF) wherein the Chief Justice had observed that it too might require "BCCI treatment".

Referring to Chief Justice Thakur`s statement on the AIFF, the BCCI in its review plea said "a the statement discloses a prejudice against the (review) petitioner (BCCI) in the mind of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and this would be detrimental to the case of the petitioner if the review petition was heard by the Chief Justice."

Describing itself an organisation of repute, the review plea said that the statement by the Chief Justice paints it "as if it were an organization that had undergone some kind of atreatment` to rid it of some vice and notoriety that it was otherwise deeply associated with."

"It is respectfully submitted that the said statement holds out that the judicial legislation, of which review is being sought for, is some kind of atreatment` that this court would impose on corrupt organisations," the review plea added.

Much of the contention raised in the review plea are the ones flagged by former top court judge Justice Markandey Katju in the last few days after he was asked to assist the BCCI in the implementation of the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations.

The review plea has taken exception to CJI`s observation wondering why it had late Jagmohan Dalmiya as its head long after he ceased to be capable of taking decisions. Defending Dalmiya, the review plea credit him for making a cash starved organisation to a cash rich one.

The bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla (since retired) had by their judgment of July 18 asked the apex cricketing body to implement the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations so that its functioning becomes transparent and accountable.