Cricket On Way To Being Nationalised? SC Removes BCCI President And Secretary
The Supreme Court on Monday sacked BCCI President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke.
The apex court asked why the duo should not be tried for perjury and contempt. "Why shouldn't prosecution be initiated against him (Thakur)"?
The court said the duo hadn't complied with its July 18, 2016 order and were thus removed.
The present crisis began in 2013 when the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot fixing scandal prompted the SC to appoint a committee to probe irregularities in the IPL and the cricket governing body. This panel found high-profile people to be guilty or complicit in the betting scam, following which the top court appointed the Lodha Committee, to review the role of those running IPL and to suggest BCCI reforms.
The present action comes following the BCCI’s refusal to enact the recommendations of the Lodha committee.
While it is nobody’s case that the running of the BCCI is worth emulating, what must be asked is if interference of the Supreme Court is the solution for the ills plaguing the BCCI. As R Jagannathan wrote last year:
You don’t have to be in love with the cabal that runs BCCI and its incestuous relationship with politicians, to point out that this is almost exactly how the Supreme Court runs itself: by selecting and appointing judges all by itself through an opaque and unaccountable collegium. All efforts by the people’s representatives to have a say in how judges are selected and the courts are run have come to naught.