Justice TS Thakur comes down hard at BCCI

The Supreme Court has lashed its whip on BCCI during its hearing on Thursday reacting to BCCI’s alleged neglect  of recommendations made by the Lodha committee set up to suggest reforms in the sports body.

Chief Justice of India TS Thakur enquired about the president of the Board of Control For Cricket in India BJP parliamentarian Anurag Thakur and whether the office bearers of the board were professionally qualified

“Does anyone of them have any qualification. Who is the president of the BCCI? What is he? Is he a politician? Did he play cricket?” Justice Thakur asked, in quick succession.

The BCCI’s counsel Kapil Sibal intervened at this point, pointing out that Thakur had played cricket at the Ranji-trophy level. But the CJI wasn’t impressed. “Even I am the captain of the Supreme Court cricket team,” he said.

The amicus curiae, Gopal Subramanian, commented, “I can only say he is not an accomplished cricketer.”

At this point, Thakur appeared convinced. “These positions in the BCCI are based only on the election, not on specific qualification,” the CJI commented.

The BCCI has been asked by the Supreme Court to give an undertaking by October 7. The undertaking must “unconditionally” implement all the court-approved recommendations of the Lodha Committee.

The court asked the Kapil Sibal to check with the board and respond by October 7; Sibal is understood to have asked for more time but the court refused. If the board failed to provide such an undertaking, the Supreme Court indicated it would pass an order on Friday to replace the board’s office bearers with a panel of administrators.

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“What do you want?” TS Thakur, the Chief Justice of India and head of the three-judge bench hearing the matter, said. “Either we pass orders tomorrow or you give us a statement that you will abide unconditionally by the recommendations and directions of the Lodha Committee.”

The latest developments in the tussle between the BCCI and the Lodha Committee took place in the Supreme Court on Thursday. The court was hearing the BCCI’s response to the status report filed by the Lodha Committee last week, which recommended that the BCCI office bearers be superseded because they were impeding the implementation of the recommendations passed by a Supreme Court order on July 18.

Here is how Twitter reacted as Kapil Sibal told SC that Anurag Thakur is a cricketer: