BCCI V LODHA REFORMS

Anurag Thakur pulled up by SC on alleged perjury charges

by Cricbuzz Staff • Published on

BCCI has been given a week to furnish a list of nominees, who could take over the BCCI administration. © Cricbuzz

Gopal Subramanium, the Amicus Curiae in the ongoing litigation involving the Lodha committee and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), observed that board president Anurag Thakur committed perjury in relation to demanding an intervention via a letter from the International Cricket Council (ICC) in order to sidestep the implementation of the Lodha reforms.

The bench was hearing Lodha panel's status report that asked for the removal of the BCCI top brass for continuous non-compliance of the recommendations in toto. In its third status report, the panel also sought the appointment of former Home Secretary of India, GK Pillai, as an 'Observer of the BCCI' to supervise the administration of the board by the Chief Executive Officer (Rahul Johri), a recommendation declined by the board on Thursday.

The three-member bench has now asked the BCCI to file a list of nominees within a week, who could replace the existing administration. One of the names suggested by the court is that of former world cup-winning India all-rounder and chairman of selectors, Mohinder Amarnath. The final order on Thakur's purported misdemeanour will be delivered on January 3 when the court returns after its winter break.

"At every stage your client has played an obstructive role. Should he really be the person holding this post? Should the entire board be removed for non compliance," the Chief Justice asked Kapil Sibal, BCCI's counsel, on Thursday (December 15).

"You ought to absolutely apologise if you want to escape. These kind of things don't help. Please don't force us. You go to ICC and ask for a letter so that you can return to say BCCI will be out of ICC. The whole object was to stop the court. This seems to be lucrative business and everyone wants to go on even after 70 years."

During the course of the hearing on October 17, BCCI president Thakur filed a personal affidavit in the Supreme Court, one that was asked of him on a previous hearing on October 7. Thakur explained his conversations with ICC chairman Shashank Manohar in the affidavit and denied trying to coerce him to state that the Lodha reforms would be seen as government interference.

"I am filing this affidavit pursuant to the order dated 7 October, passed by this court, on whether I had asked the ICC CEO to state that the appointment of Justice Lodha Committee was tantamount to government interference in the working of the BCCI," Thakur said in his affidavit. "At the outset, it is denied that any such request was put forth by me to the CEO of the ICC."

"I pointed out to chairman Shashank Manohar that when he was BCCI president he had taken a view that the recommendations of Justice Lodha committee appointing the nominee of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on apex council would amount to governmental interference and might invoke an action of suspension from ICC; therefore requested him that being the ICC Chairman can a letter be issued clarifying the position which he had taken as BCCI President, " the affidavit further explained.

However, in a separate statement to the Supreme Court, Manohar denied that he was made a request pertaining to his position as a former BCCI president but instead as the ICC chairman. According to ICC guidelines, a member board with government interference is liable to suspension. The Lodha committee, amongst other recommendations ratified by the Supreme Court in its July 18 verdict, demanded the appointment of a member of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for greater transparency, which the BCCI sought to oppose.

Gopal Sankaranaryanan, the Lodha Committee secretary, too highlighted upon the differences in the affidavit submitted by Thakur and the letter submitted by Manohar. "In [Anurag] Thakur's version of events it is a clarification he had sought. In Manohar's version of events, he said as ICC chairman I was asked to give a letter, not a clarification, saying that this amounts to interference. For me this amounts to variance."

Thakur, who stands to lose his position as the head of the cricket board, now finds himself on further sticky grounds if the court finds him guilty of furnishing a false affidavit. It could lead to an initiation of contempt of court proceedings against him.

The Lodha committee, headed by former chief justice RN Lodha and also comprising retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran, was set up by the apex court of India in January 2015 to pronounce the quantum of punishment for those found guilty by the Mudgal report. In addition to pronouncing the punitive measures for perpetrators, the top court of law empowered the trio to recommend changes in the administration of BCCI. Over the course of the year, the trio met various stakeholders of the game, including former cricketers and BCCI office bearers before putting out a series of administrative reforms in the board's functioning.

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