Day of judgment cheers officials

New Delhi, August 10

There was a lot for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials to be cheerful about when the Supreme Court dumped several Lodha Committee recommendations that were unacceptable to them.
The order will also end the rule of the court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), which had a stormy relationship with BCCI’s top brass. On numerous occasions CoA had taken up cudgels against acting president CK Khanna, secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry for resisting reform.
“The big point from today’s judgment is that the days of CoA are coming to an end. I am happy that cricket administration will be back with the people who really know and run the game in this country,” a BCCI official said.
Full members

Today’s judgment restored the full membership status of the associations of Saurashtra, Vadodara, Mumbai and Vidarbha as the contentious ‘one-state, one-vote’ recommendation was rejected. The judgment also gave back full rights to Railways Sports Promotion Board, Services Sports Control Board and Association of Indian Universities. But there is a catch: Representatives from these bodies to any BCCI meeting should be a former player, elected by an association of former players.
“Someone has to seek further clarifications from the court about this process,” an official said. “While it is good news that the voting rights have been restored, the idea of a former player from those bodies representing them after getting elected is not.”
“Railways, Services and AIU work differently than other associations,” he added. “There the board and officials take decisions and they don’t have a player association.”