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Board of Control for Cricket in India v. Cricket Association of Bihar & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 4235 of 2014, order of 18 July 2016)Decided 18 Jul 2016
Civil Appeal No. 4235 of 2014
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur · Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla

Background

This case arises from the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal involving the BCCI (India's cricket governing board) and its franchise teams. In an earlier 2015 judgment, the Supreme Court had already found the BCCI amenable to writ jurisdiction despite not being "State" under the Constitution, and had set up a three-member committee led by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha to recommend sweeping reforms to BCCI's governance, since the existing rules had allowed conflicts of interest, unlimited terms for office-bearers, and weak accountability. The Lodha Committee submitted detailed recommendations, which the BCCI and several state cricket associations strongly resisted, leading to this final hearing on whether to accept, modify, or reject the Committee's reform proposals.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court largely accepted the Lodha Committee's recommendations, with some modifications and clarifications. Key reforms approved included: a "one state, one vote" principle to stop multiple associations from a single state controlling disproportionate voting power; a maximum age limit of 70 years and fixed, limited terms (with mandatory "cooling-off" periods) for office-bearers to prevent any individual from entrenching themselves indefinitely; restructuring of BCCI's internal committees for clearer accountability; and a push toward separating cricket governance from day-to-day management. The Court left certain narrower issues, such as the exact scope for including IPL franchisee nominees on the IPL Governing Council, for the Committee to re-examine and finalise. It directed the Lodha Committee itself to supervise the transition and implementation of these reforms within four to six months, rather than retaining that supervisory role in the Court, and then disposed of the matter finally.

Lesson Learnt

Even a private sports body that isn't formally part of the government can be compelled by courts to overhaul its own internal rules, on term limits, conflicts of interest, and voting structures, when it performs an important public function and its self-governance has broken down; courts can also delegate ongoing supervision of such reforms to an independent expert committee rather than monitoring every step themselves.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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