To Do Or Not To Do: Will Anurag Thakur File Affidavit To Term Lodha Directives As Government Interference?

BCCI president Anurag Thakur found himself in a tricky situation as the Supreme Court asked him on Friday to furnish a personal affidavit on his purported request to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to term the Justice Lodha committee-recommended reforms as amounting to government interference in cricket management.

BCCL

The board president will have to tread carefully in filing the personal affidavit as misstating facts or making an incorrect statement could lead to initiation of contempt of court proceedings against him which would entail a possible jail term if the court finds him guilty of filing a false affidavit.

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said, "Anurag Thakur, president of BCCI , shall file a personal affidavit whether he had asked the CEO of the ICC to state that the appointment of Justice Lodha committee was tantamount to government interference in the working of the BCCI."

BCCL

All through the hearing in the apex court for implementation of reforms suggested by the Justice Lodha panel, the BCCI had taken a strident stand and argued that including a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the managing committee of the board could be viewed as government interference in the board's affairs and lead to its suspension by the ICC.

It had also argued against exclusion of ministers and bureaucrats from the management committee on the ground that it would deprive the BCCI of their expertise in management.

The SC had rejected these arguments and said, "A CAG nominee would only ensure that finances are streamlined. If CAG nominee is government interference in board affairs, how can the BCCI argue for inclusion of ministers and bureaucrats in its managing committee?" In asking the board president to file a personal affidavit, the SC was referring to a statement from ICC CEO David Richardson, who had reportedly claimed that Thakur had verbally requested ICC boss Shashank Manohar to write a letter to the BCCI related to the Lodha panel.

BCCL

Richardson had said in a TV interview, "The president of the BCCI, Thakur, did verbally request the ICC chairman to write a letter to the BCCI, asking the BCCI to explain whether the recommendations of Lodha committee might constitute government interference.

"Manohar said the ICC should not write such a letter unless the BCCI first writes to the ICC, requesting the ICC to intervene, or that the ICC receives a letter from another of its member requesting it to do so; and no such letter has been received. I understand Manohar is reluctant to interfere in domestic affairs of a member country."

BCCL

He had further said, "He will not do so without being formally requested to do so by that member concerned, nor is he prepared to put the ICC in a position where the ICC can be perceived as challenging the authority of the Supreme Court of India, without being formally requested to intervene and especially without the full consensus of the ICC board."x`