The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has identified seven state associations for “neglecting” and “breaching” the Supreme Court order of August 9 that had directed all BCCI members – states – to comply with the new constitution formed on the basis of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.
Other states fall under “partially compliant” and “substantially compliant” categories – they have made modifications to several key reforms that were approved by the court. Incredibly, none of the 34 state associations of the BCCI has complied fully with the reforms in the new constitution.
Consequently, the CoA has asked the court to warn all non-compliant states that their voting rights at the BCCI elections would be “suspended” if they fail to produce an eligible compliance certificate within a set timeframe.
On August 9, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by the then chief justice of India, Dipak Misra, approved the new constitution of the BCCI as drafted by the CoA, with certain amendments. The BCCI registered its new constitution on August 21 at the Registrar of Societies. As per the court order the states would have needed to submit a compliance certificate to the board within a month from that date – by September 20.
Although the states were not expected to follow an identical image of the BCCI constitution, they were told by the CoA to record in writing the reasons behind any modification or deviation along with the modified constitution.
In its tenth status report submitted to the court on October 28, the CoA said seven state associations have “failed and neglected” to file the compliance certificate. High-profile state associations such as Haryana, Karnataka and Gujarat feature among this pack, which the CoA has termed as being “clearly in breach” of the court order and classified as “Non-Compliant State Associations”.
The CoA has also shortlisted 10 “partially compliant” state associations, which include heavyweights like Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharasthra and Jharkhand. There are 17 others state associations that have accepted most of the reforms barring a few in their new constitution.
In August, the court had warned that any state association that defied its order would be barred from receiving funds from the BCCI until it adopted the new constitution. Although many states have set the ball rolling, many have dragged their feet on key reforms such as the cooling-off period, disqualification criteria and selection panels while altering a few others significant reforms. Considering the court’s warning to have fallen on deaf ears, the CoA has now told the court it ought to issue further stringent directions.
Each of the seven non-compliant state associations, the CoA has said, should submit a compliance certificate and the new constitution as per the prescribed format within a week. Failing to do so would lead to suspension of their voting rights at the BCCI general body along with additional penalties.
The same would apply to the partially compliant states as well as those that had accepted the new constitution in substantial parts, who, the CoA has recommended, should be given two weeks to submit fresh compliance certificates.
Once they have amended their constitutions along similar lines to the BCCI, all eligible states will conduct elections as per the protocol set by the BCCI’s electoral officer, who will be chosen by the CoA in consultation with the Election Commission of India. The CoA has told the court that the BCCI should conduct its elections within 90 days and only those state associations found eligible can attend/vote/contest.