BCCI heads to meet Lodha Committee on August 9

BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke will meet the Lodha Committee members on August 9 in Delhi. It is understood that the meeting was requested by the BCCI, which finds itself in a spot after the Supreme Court accepted most of the recommendations made by the Lodha Committee, which suggested wholesale changes to the governance structure of the board and the state associations.

Since the court pronounced the judgement on Monday, the BCCI is yet to formally make any public announcement about how it intends to deal with the transition. The two-judge bench of the court, comprising Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kaliffula, whose last day in office was Friday, had asked the BCCI and the states to put in the new measures within six months, under the supervision of the Lodha Committee.

The state associations are confused and have been looking to the BCCI for direction. The BCCI, in turn, is waiting to hear from its legal committee, which, it is learned, is likely to meet next week to discuss the court order.

The Lodha Committee already set the ball rolling and asked the BCCI to tell the states to stall their scheduled elections till further notice. Failing to adhere to the instructions, the committee has made it clear, will only make the election results null and void.

Post the court order on July 18, only Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association decided to hold its elections and even elected a serving minister in the state government as its president. The Lodha Committee had made it clear that no serving minister could serve as an administrator. It only means the election of Imran Raza Ansari as JKCA president stands disqualified.

That the Lodha Committee had already started wielding its power was evident when both Cricket Association of Bengal and the Karnataka State Cricket Association postponed their scheduled elections, after they were put on hold. The CAB polls were supposed to take place on July 31 while KSCA's were scheduled for August 7.

KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel said the decision to defer the elections was taken once the communique from Lodha Committee arrived. "We had an emergent managing committee meeting and have unanimously decided to postpone the elections as per the directions of the Supreme Court. They will tells us about the constitution of the [managing] committee as per the Lodha recommendations."

Patel also said he was seeking more clarity from the BCCI on the composition of the managing committee and how the recommendations would be implemented. "Let them come out with, if there will be a president, three vice-presidents, or one vice-president or will there be an apex council. There is no clarity on that."