The Supreme Court yesterday said that it was not against politicians taking part in the affairs of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or interfering in its autonomy but only wanted that its activities promoted development of the game in the country
New Delhi: The Supreme Court yesterday said that it was not against politicians taking part in the affairs of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or interfering in its autonomy but only wanted that its activities promoted development of the game in the country.
Making its stand clear, the court wanted to know if the apex cricketing body has asked its auditors to conduct the performance audit of the funds flowing from it to the state cricketing associations.
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The court said this as it reserved its verdict on the BCCI and its state affiliates red flagging some of the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee. They are particularly aggrieved by the recommendations providing for 'one state, one vote', ceiling on the tenure of the office bearers and presence of a CAG nominee on the BCCI board.
"We are not reviewing any decision of the BCCI. Say if they are selecting a team whether they should have a fast bowler or a spinner. We are not going to step in there," said the bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla.
The court observation came as the apex cricketing body contended that it could not be directed the way it should go about in conducting its functioning. The bench was told that if it was open to the court to go into its existence, constitution, membership, qualification of membership, then it would apply to other 64 national sports bodies managing the affairs of various sports in the country.
"Politicians could always be there in their individual capacity," the bench said as senior counsel KK Venugopal appearing for the BCCI told the court. "Whether one is a bureaucrat or a politician, so long he is elected according to rules, there can be no bar."
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