Does the BCCI need to come under the RTI?
The specific purpose of Ajay Maken’s National Sports Development Bill was to gain control of the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India, writes Ashok Malik in the Pioneer
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
The specific purpose of Ajay Maken’s National Sports Development Bill was to gain control of the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India, writes Ashok Malik in the Pioneer. Malik asks that while the BCCI has much to answer for and is scarcely a model of corporate governance, does it deserve to be answerable under RTI provisions? After all it receives no grants from the Government and, instead, contributes to the public exchequer by paying taxes.More from the Pioneer.
Mr Maken argues the BCCI gets “indirect monetary help”.This is puzzling. Some of the properties cited by Mr Maken — such as the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium managed by the DDCA in New Delhi — were set aside for use as sports venues decades ago. He says many stadiums used by the BCCI and its affiliates, the State cricket associations, have been built on land received “free of cost or at concessional rates from the Government”.
This is no different from social clubs — such as the Delhi Gymkhana Club or the Delhi Golf Club, to give two examples — that have got land at concessional rates from the Government as part of the process of developing civic spaces in a metropolis. Should the Gymkhana Club also come under the RTI Act?
Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times argues that the BCCI, mired as it is in many allegations of financial misdemeanour, especially in the IPL, should have welcomed the Sports Bill, instead of taking refuge behind the argument that being a private body, it is not subject to any government regulation.
In the Times of India, Sanjay Manjrekar, Bobilli Vijay Kumar and Yash Gupta weigh in with their opinions on the proposed bill. Manjrekar says while transparency is desirable it does not guarantee success of the national team; Kumar says the bill will make the BCCI less arrogant while Gupta says it is an opportunity for the board to change its image, which is that of a closed body.
Akhila Ranganna is assistant editor (Audio) at ESPNcricinfo