Lodha inspires clean-up across Indian sports

Lodha inspires clean-up across Indian sports

Jagdish Singh Khehar

MUMBAI: To oversee the functioning of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), the apex court of India will today pronounce the names of officials to be appointed as administrators on the board.

Among other steps, the Lodha committee had sought disqualification of BCCI office-bearers who were not Indian citizens, and those who hold office in a sports or athletic association or federation apart from cricket, and those declared insolvent and administrators charged with a crime.

Meantime, in a separate development, the Supreme Court postponed hearing on BCCI's review plea against Lodha reforms.

Also, in a petition filed by 28 sportspersons from different games, the top court, headed by the chief justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar, wrote to the central government seeking its views about forming a Justice Lodha-like panel so as to look into alleged irregularities in other sports across India. The bench also issued notices to the various sports federations.

Sportspersons had sought Lodha-like reforms, from ejecting 70-year-old officials from heading sports federations to disqualifying bureaucrats and ministers on sports bodies.

To ensure that the national sports federations operated transparently, the government should be directed to incorporate within the national sports code recommendations made by the Lodha panel, the plea sought.