BCCI has to reform now, or it will perish

The Indian cricket board received its hardest rap on the knuckles in the Supreme Court Wednesday when it was named and shamed by a bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur for acting like “lords above the law”. Given a few days’ breather by the court, the board allowed itself one last opportunity on Saturday at a special general meeting to roll out the reforms mandated by the court-appointed Lodha Committee. If it fails to formalise the reforms process, the court will be inclined to appoint a panel of administrators to show the BCCI how it can be reorganised under new office-bearers, getting rid of those who have made a habit of defying court orders. For years the BCCI has been behaving like a recalcitrant child, unwilling to recognise judicial authority. The board was led down this garden path by a former president, whose ambitions to keep control of cricket were stymied by the court and who was also forced to step down as ICC chairman. Thanks to his arrogant disregard of court orders, the board appears to be reluctant to learn what compliance with court orders is.

Asked not to take decisions on its future operations at the AGM last week and adhere strictly to routine matters, the BCCI crossed the “laxman rekha” once again, which is why it now finds itself on the cleft end of the stick. The appointment of a hotchpotch selection committee with little experience in top-flight cricket and another term for the secretary went against the very grain of the reforms push by the Lodha Committee. By inviting the maverick views of a notorious opinion-dispenser, the BCCI further invited the wrath of the court, whose presiding judge had been handling for years a plethora of cases filed by the BCCI in a bid to allow its mandarins to cling to power. The court’s latest pronouncements have made it clear to the board led by a ruling party politician that, unless reforms are set in motion straightaway, the board could find itself in danger of being taken over.

The BCCI was directed to carry out certain reforms to cleanse it of its opaque policies that allowed businessmen and politicians to arrogate power by feeding a closed-shop favour system. The monopolistic tendencies of its top brass were the crux of the problem, and the path to reform was pointed out by the Lodha panel. It was also taught how to be transparent in television deals and marketing. Only the naked ambitions of its key office-bearers led to this impasse, besides the burning of crores of rupees in legal fees in taking on the Supreme Court. The final line has been drawn on this. It’s now reform or perish for the BCCI.