Is the BCCI CoA misusing its powers and are being hypocritical?

[Malcolm Merlyn]

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It has often been said that the ongoing battle between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) was one in which nobody won. The players, at all levels, have had their routines disturbed, payments delayed and decisions that affected them taken at the last moment. The BCCI itself is in tatters, with only three office bearers in their positions — two of whom are only acting officials. The CoA has endured one highprofile resignation  ..

(Ramachandra Guha), one exit (Vikram Limaye) and over about one and a half years of struggles to implement the reforms it was appointed to oversee.

But, it would be wrong to say nobody benefited. As is so often the case, in an organisation that is being pulled in different directions by factions within it, the one failsafe method to find the beneficiary is to follow the money.

And, in this case, the biggest beneficiaries are Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas — Advocates and Lawyers. The lawfirm, founded in 2015, describes itself as “the largest full-service law firm in India, with over 625 lawyers, including around 103 partners, and offices in India’s key business centres — Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Chennai.” And while there’s no suggestion of wrongdoing or undue benefit, the sheer volume of legal work the CoA has sent the firm’s way is worth loo ..

In the most recent round of payments made by the BCCI, on June 6, 2018, the firm received a total of 15 separate payments, totalling nearly Rs 1.44 crore. The payments ranged from as little as Rs 59,400 to as much as Rs 22 lakh.

It appears that special care has been taken to ensure that no invoice is over `25 lakh, as such payments would trigger an automatic publishing of the details on the BCCI website. The Economic Times accessed this confidential document, which included other points of interest
 

If that wasn’t varied enough, there is a single payment of Rs 1,86,464 towards “out of pocket expenses stationery photocopies for BCCI” that the firm incurred in discharging their services to the BCCI. That must be one impressive stack of photocopies sitting in an office somewhere.
 

This is only a sample of the kind and quantum of expenses the BCCI has incurred over implementation of the Lodha reforms. For a cash-rich organisation, the numbers are hardly staggering, but when you add this up, month on month, while taking into account the fact that almost none of the reforms suggested by the trenchant Justice Lodha Committee, have been implemented, it begs the question of exactly what the point is of spending this money, when money due to state associations, that would actual ..

be spent on cricket, isn’t being disburbursed by virtue of an order of the courts. Interestingly, this same Committee of Administrators also issued very clear instructions that legal fees of BCCI office bearers wouldn’t be paid by the organisation they represent, and in all likelihood, incurred in the course of discharging their duties. On March 15, the CoA went hard at BCCI officials, drastically curtailing their freedoms and abilities to effectively discharge their duties.
 

However, the same CoA continues to approve payments to external legal advisors when it comes to the discharge of their own duties.

In addition, the CoA decreed: “The office bearers and/or their respective Executive Assistants shall not undertake any travel including but not limited to hotel accommodations at BCCI expense without the prior approval of the CoA.”
 

They also ruled that “The CEO alone shall continue to sign all pleadings, affidavits, applications, etc. in respect of legal proceedings filed by or against the BCCI. The CEO alone shall continue to issue instructions to advocates/ legal advisors in relation to fresh as well as pending legal proceedings under the supervision and control of the CoA.”
 

While they were at it, the committee, led by Vinod Rai, who continues to occupy his position despite turning 70, a privilege not extended to BCCI officials, also decided that: “Any powers exercisable by any office bearer under the existing Memorandum and Rules and Regulations of BCCI (“Existing BCCI Constitution”) shall be exercised only with the prior approval of the CoA.” There was a time when the BCCI constitution was the final word on any matter regarding the governance of cricket in India.  ..

Now, the CoA lays down the law, even as it decides that those same rules don’t apply to themselves.
 

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