CoA urges state associations to streamline Lodha objections

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) hopes that the state associations will distill their objections to the Lodha Committee recommendations to one or two points when they meet on Sunday (June 25) in Mumbai, a day before the BCCI's SGM. This, the CoA believes, will be a significant step towards firming up the BCCI's model constitution.

The Vidarbha Cricket Association is the only one so far to draft a new constitution as per the Lodha recommendations, and it has subsequently been ratified by the BCCI. A number of state associations, however, have filed petitions in the Supreme Court objecting to different recommendations of the Lodha Committee. The CoA feels this is counter-productive to all parties concerned. "We are focused on making sure that the Lodha Committee report gets implemented, which requires the model constitution to be adopted," a CoA official told ESPNcricinfo.

"For this, the states need to be aligned. We told them even in the last meeting that going to the court with multiple petitions won't work. We have asked them to narrow it down to two points that are absolutely critical from their standpoint. If they are going to withdraw all their petitions and ask the court to consider two points, it's much easier for the court to deal with the matter rather than dealing with 15 different petitions with different permutations and combinations.

"My hope is in that meeting we will be able to narrow it down and then consider and work with the court to see if it is possible to amend one or two these things and then move forward to get the constitution finalised. Then you can conduct elections and hold AGM in September."

The CoA is given to understand that a majority of state associations are opposed to four recommendations - one-state, one-vote; the age cap of 70 for office bearers; the cooling-off period of three years for office bearers between terms in office; and restriction on the number of selectors to three as opposed to the earlier five. A Cricket Association of Bengal official, for instance, told ESPNcricinfo that the age-restriction was a major stumbling block since "more than 60%" of the state body's officials were over 70.

While the Kerala Cricket Association objected to the cooling-off period, it also sought clarity on the role of the Apex Council. "We have 11 office-bearers as opposed to the nine-member Apex Council that has been prescribed by the Lodha Committee for the BCCI," a KCA official said. "We want clarification on whether the formation of an Apex Council applies to us as well; that is should a state association like ours need to have an Apex Council like the BCCI."

The CoA official indicated that the Supreme Court might be inclined to reconsider one or two recommendations so long as they didn't tinker with governance issues. "We have indicated to the state associations that if they try and dilute anything surrounding governance, it is unlikely to fly," the official said. "So, within that context, let them decide what they want to take to the court but it is unlikely the court will dilute any governance-related clauses. One-state, one vote, and three selectors, I think, the court may be willing to consider.

"The state associations might still want to take [governance-related clauses] to the court and the court might strike it down. They might want the court to specifically say that they are unwilling to make amendments. But, if they adopt all the recommendations except one or two points that they object to, the court will at least feel they have a genuine inclination towards reform. That's what we have been telling them to do, so that it is in their interest as well that if the court wants to consider something, if the court feels that they are moving forward."

The CoA is also likely to discuss other issues such as the Deloitte report that has dealt with financial irregularities in certain member associations. "Even in our previous meetings, we tried to talk to them on various matters, including governance," the official said. "In this case, there might be something to discuss on ICC-related matters, obviously on what is coming up for voting in the SGM on June 26. There are other things that we sent to them to respond to - the Deloitte report and appointment of Ombudsman and redressal officer."