RAHUL MEHRA & ANOTHER
VERSUS
UNION OF
CIVIL
WRIT PETITION NO. 1680 OF 2000
(SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE GAME OF CRICKET IN
We
the People of India treat cricket as our fifth Religion after Hinduism,
Sikhism, Islam & Christianity, or fifth Veda. Cricket is the unofficial national sport of
The Board of Control for
Cricket in India (hereafter BCCI), a non-profit body, discharges public duties
in administering the game on behalf of its most important stakeholders, the
fans of Indian cricket. In the aforetitled
writ petition, while deciding the preliminary issue of maintainability, the
Hon’ble High Court of Delhi (DB-I) vide its order dated October 4, 2004 [2005
(I) AD (
“In short, organized
cricket in
“……..…….. The BCCI which is the sole repository of
everything cricket in
The
aforementioned view of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi has subsequently been
affirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its majority decision (3:2) dated
02.02.2005 in Writ Petition (Civil) 541 of 2004 titled M/s. Zee Telefilms Ltd.
& Another versus Union of India & Others, wherein it has observed:
Be that as it may, it
cannot be denied that the Board does discharge some duties like the selection
of an Indian cricket team, controlling the activities of the players and others
involved in the game of cricket. These
activities can be said to be akin to public duties or State functions and if
there is any violation of any constitutional or statutory obligation or rights
of other citizens, the aggrieved party may not have a relief by way of a
petition under Article 32. But that does
not mean that the violator of such right would go scot-free merely because it
or he is not a State. Under the Indian
jurisprudence there is always a just remedy for violation of a right of a
citizen. Though the remedy under Article 32 is not available, an aggrieved
party can always seek a remedy under the ordinary course of law or by way of a
writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution which is much wider than
Article 32.
Right from its very
inception in 2000, the petitioners’ writ petition has focused on the
transparency, accountability and integrity of the BCCI’s administrative
functioning and elections, amongst other issues. With a new television contract set to
dramatically increase (almost 2 times 2004-05 gross income, 4 times
2002-2003 gross income, and roughly 6 times the previous yearly television
rights fee) the revenue earned by Indian cricket, the BCCI must install
stronger checks and balances in its governance structure to safeguard the
interest of its stakeholders.
The Hon’ble High Court
of Delhi vide its order dated 13.04.2005 was pleased to direct the Petitioners
to hand over a set of suggestions to Respondent No. 2, the BCCI. The BCCI was in turn directed to examine the
same and inform the
I
PRINCIPLES
The suggestions
contained in this submission arise from the following principles:
A
The BCCI should share as
much information about its operations with the public as possible, except where
particular disclosures would impede the effective administration of the
game. Such transparency would:
1
Produce enhanced expert and popular feedback, as in our
democracy itself, which can present the BCCI with new ideas and
perspectives. Fans will be more able to
assess the effectiveness of BCCI policy.
2
Deter corruption through enhanced scrutiny. As Indian cricket’s gross revenue will
increase dramatically in the coming years, such public oversight will grow in
importance.
3
Enable the BCCI to build trust with fans.
B
The BCCI should
acknowledge the limits of its existing constitutional and managerial
structure. The Board should establish
sustainable management structures that can help the nation achieve its
cricketing dreams. Such an
acknowledgment would include recognition of:
1
The necessity of restricting voting in its State Association
elections to individuals fully focused on the game and conversant with the
current realities and complexities of cricket administration.
2
The need for enhanced professional management in light of the
current and growing complexity of modern cricket administration
3
The advantages of a formal consultative role for players via a
union or players’ association or other professional negotiating entity.
4
The opportunity to work jointly with municipal / local bodies to
create recreational authorities to introduce and maintain cricket pitches for
developing players across
A
Voter eligibility for
State Association elections
Already highly complex,
cricket administration promises only to become more challenging in the coming
years as growing budgets must be deployed effectively. Electors for State Association offices must
be sufficiently connected with and focused on the game to ensure proper
governance over State Associations.
In
The BCCI should
therefore mandate that following criteria be implemented by State Associations
in their constitutions:
1
Only representatives of local clubs and, if a state association
wishes, former Ranji / national / international level cricket players may vote
in a State Association’s elections.
2
Abolish proxy voting and encourage the electorate to vote in person.
B
Voter eligibility for
BCCI elections
1
At least three months before the BCCI’s Annual General
Meeting, the BCCI should require each State Association to nominate an official
representative who will vote on its behalf at that AGM.
2
The BCCI must develop guidelines to choose between
multiple nominees from the same State Association in cases where the State
Association’s Constitution gives no guidance.
Where, for whatever reason, multiple nominations have been received from
the same State Association, the BCCI should appoint an arbitrator to determine
the rightful nominee based on the State Association’s Constitution and, if
necessary, the BCCI’s guidelines.
The
BCCI must forward the dispute to the arbitrator early enough so that all state
association representatives for its AGM are known at least one month in
advance.
C
Anti-corruption
requirements for BCCI officeholders
The BCCI, in its effort
to eradicate corruption from cricket, should establish in its mission statement
that every officer of the Board and every cricketer in the country shall not
only be expected to be clean, but he should also be seen to be clean. To that end, the following rules should be
added to the BCCI Constitution:
1
The BCCI must ensure that every player and officer of the BCCI
or a State Association, prior to the time of election or upon selection,
officially declares to the Finance Manager of the BCCI both personal assets as well as assets
belonging to the player’s or official’s family.
This declaration should include a statement of assets and income tax
returns for the most recent five years.
For every succeeding year, the BCCI must also require all officers and
players to submit copies of their income tax statements to its Finance Manager
for scrutiny.
2
Any player or officer of the BCCI or a State Association found
in possession of undeclared assets or in possession of assets disproportionate
to known sources of income shall be immediately suspended for a period of three
months. Adhering to the principles of
natural justice, a show cause notice should be issued within 15 days of his
suspension, and the player or official shall be banned for life if found
guilty.
3
Any player or officer of the BCCI or a State Association
credibly accused to have indulged in betting or to have inappropriate contacts
with any agent of betting syndicates, such as bookmakers, punters, and betting
institutions, must be immediately suspended for a period of three months. Adhering to the principles of natural
justice, a show cause notice should be issued within 15 days of his suspension,
and the player or official shall be banned for life if found guilty.
D
Expand the term of
elected officers from one year to two years
1
Annual elections
unnecessarily steal valuable time and energy from the officers of the BCCI and
its State Associations. The President
and other BCCI officers should be elected to terms of two years instead of one
year. This would allow officers more time
to focus on cricket policy decision between elections.
2
The BCCI constitution
should limit officers to at most two consecutive terms in office, and no
officer should hold the same office for more than four terms or eight years in
total.
3
The BCCI should require State Associations to hold elections on
or before the expiry of their statutory period and have office terms of greater
than one year.
E
Income generated by
hosting an International match should be allotted to a pool and distributed
equally so that the match allotment – voting nexus can be eliminated,
both in fact and appearance.
For international matches
played in
III
Professional Management of Indian Cricket
A
Putting day-to-day operations in the hands of professional
managers
The BCCI is a large profitable
entity, it runs a massively popular sport, it has several high value legal and
commercial contracts with TV companies and sponsors, and it stages matches
watched by tens of thousands requiring coordination with the police, traffic
control, and other administrative bodies.
It also has several other challenging responsibilities such as promoting
and developing cricket throughout the country, discovering and coaching young
talent, investing surplus funds, continually creating itineraries and travel
schedules, and promoting health and fitness.
It is time the BCCI recognizes that its responsibilities have grown
faster than its administrative capacity.
Among
those heading various State Associations are individuals of great experience
and acumen such as Mr. Ranbir Singh Mahendra in Haryana, Mr. Sharad Pawar in
Maharashtra, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar, Mr. Arun Jaitley in Delhi, and
Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya in West Bengal, among others. While they may be qualified, each has a
demanding full-time job requiring their continued attention. Mr. Dalmiya, for example, runs a large
business empire in Kolkata, while Mr. Yadav and Mr. Pawar are managing
important ministries in the central government.
Doesn’t Indian cricket deserve full-time, fully-focused day-to-day
managers?
Beyond top management, the
BCCI along with many of its State Associations don’t have a proper office
staffs or official work times (e.g. 9 to 5 or 10 to 6) and rarely have
marketing and finance professionals.
Indian cricket, valued at more than Rs. 1500 crores and growing,
deserves a dedicated team of talented and highly qualified professionals.
In order to strengthen its
administrative capabilities, the BCCI should:
1
Hire a full-time, professionally qualified Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) with outstanding management skills. The performance of
all employees of the BCCI, including the CEO, should be reviewed annually.
The cricket boards of
2
Hire cricket
operations, cricket development, marketing, legal, finance, and public
relations managers. These managers,
along with the CEO, should be full-time employees responsible for the
day-to-day affairs of Indian cricket administration. The responsibilities of various existing BCCI
committees should be adjusted accordingly.
3
Establish a new, state-of-the-art
head office for its expanded professional staff.
The CEO and managers of Indian
cricket operations, along with all other permanent administrative employees of
the BCCI, should function out of a new head office. The BCCI’s current head office is in a
ramshackle state, containing just three computers and no proper toilets. In the cramped office sit eight huge steel
cupboards used as a dumping ground for official records and trophies, rarely if
ever retrieved once stored.
In comparison, Cricket
While the size and location of
the new office should be at the discretion of the elected officers of the BCCI,
a space of around 10,000 square feet in either Mumbai or
4
Hire a full-time team
manager and media manager to accompany the national team both at home and on
overseas tours.
As the media
is the link between the BCCI and the players and the public, the BCCI should
appoint a full-time media manager to brief the media on the activities of the
Board. This would enable the public to
stay informed about any and all of the BCCI’s activities.
International-level
players are ambassadors of the country.
Therefore, the new media manager should also ensure that players are
periodically given training in social and media management skills so that they
present the best possible image in their public interactions.
Both
positions should be full-time jobs with a fixed tenure of greater than one
year. At present, the BCCI has no media
manager and team managers are appointed on an ad hoc, tour-by-tour basis.
B
Corporate Governance
1
The Working Committee
of the BCCI should be responsible for long and short-term cricket planning and
policy making. The Working Committee, in
addition, would be responsible for oversight and governance of the BCCI’s CEO
and other professional managers, as in other for-profit and non-profit
entities.
2
The Working Committee
of the BCCI should prepare and publish a vision document defining their
short-term and long-term goals. This
document would serve as a living business plan for Indian cricket and therefore
should be updated at regular intervals.
Periodically, (perhaps after every World Cup),
the vision document should be submitted to a broad-based panel of experts
including cricketers of standing and repute, management and finance experts,
and former administrators. The panel’s
comprehensive analysis and comments should be disclosed to the public as a
separate report. The report would include
a summary of BCCI and State Association spending, progress made since the last
commission report, challenges faced by Indian cricket, and the committee’s
assessment of cricket administration in India with plaudits and suggestions for
change. The
Working Committee of the BCCI would then be free to incorporate those panel
suggestions it finds helpful.
3
The Working Committee
of the BCCI should also create internal procedures to ensure fair and
transparent employee hiring and contractor relationships.
The minutes of the
BCCI’s annual general body meetings reveal that appointments of managers and
other support staff are extensions of a patronage system to persons who curry
favour with the officers of the BCCI.
In addition to proper and transparent hiring
procedures, the BCCI and all of its State Associations must ensure transparency
when giving contracts to stalls vendors and in-stadiums advertisers, as well as
in the collection of gate money. To
ensure highest level of transparency, tenders for purchases of amount more than
Rs. 5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakhs Only) should be floated by the BCCI and State
Associations prior to the acquisition of any material required during any
addition / alteration / renovation / construction of a cricket stadium and for
any other cricketing expenditure. All
such tenders should be disclosed to the general public through publication in
at least three prominent local newspapers, etc., to ensure the widest possible
spectrum of bidders.
4
The Working Committee of the BCCI must ensure that the issue of sale of
television rights is handled with utmost care and transparency.
While the Working
Committee would, of course, retain final approval authority over any deal and
enjoy close communications with the CEO, the negotiations should be handled by
the CEO and the professional management team employed the BCCI.
The BCCI should
conclude television rights negotiations at least 6 months before the beginning
of the first series covered by the rights, and therefore invite bids from
prospective broadcasters more than 6 months prior to that date. The BCCI should announce all relevant
details to the public in a time-bound manner.
A
The BCCI
must invest all surplus funds, outside of a contingency fund and amounts for
operating expenses and benefit payments, into cricket development
The financial pattern of the BCCI must be restructured by
an expert committee comprised of eminent officers of the BCCI and legendary
cricketing personalities. The BCCI
should maintain a contingency fund of at least Rs. 50 Crores in a
centralized account plus professionally prepared estimates for operating
expenses and benevolent fund and pension requirements. All other money, to the last rupee, must be
ploughed back into the game to constantly improve infrastructure and coaching
from the grassroots level up. The
governing principle should be that the game earns the money and it is only fair
that the money be used to better the game.
B
The BCCI
should take ultimate responsibility for cricket development and domestic leagues
throughout
As the main
funding source for State Associations, the BCCI can influence the governance
structures of these associations. In its
monitoring role, the BCCI should:
1
Identify areas under State Association control, which
affect players from other states, such as the quality of pitches in a state’s
grounds. The BCCI should condition
financial assistance to State Associations on the ability of the BCCI to
intervene if a State Association’s performance is not adequate in one of the
specified categories.
For
example, BCCI should immediately
identify five underperforming pitches and appoint professional curators to
rehabilitate those grounds. Here the
BCCI’s role is to ensure that the quality of pitches at the first-class level
is improved so that cricketers can be prepared to play on good pitches at the
international level and not be surprised when they come across different kinds
of pitches when on overseas tour. Even
at the junior level, quality of pitches ought to be improved drastically so
that cricketers can be prepared to play on good pitches when they graduate to
the senior ranks and not find this transition from lower to the higher ranks
almost impossible to cope with.
The BCCI would provide all
necessary equipment and the curator would train the existing State Association
grounds staff. The project, to be
evaluated by the BCCI after three years, would improve the identified pitches while
ensuring that existing local staff members receive training.
Another example is potential
doping among domestic or international players.
The BCCI should have random drug testing for all domestic and
international players with immediate effect.
2
Encourage states to adopt governance practices
including transparent hiring and contracting procedures, the periodic
maintenance and publication of a vision document, and the bifurcation of
oversight and day-to-day management between an elected board of directors and
permanent managers such as a CEO.
C
The BCCI
should accelerate infrastructure improvements throughout the country
1
In order to upgrade
infrastructure facilities in the country, the BCCI should allocate a sum of Rs.
100 crore (Rupees One Hundred Crore) to be shared equally between all its
affiliated State Associations. This
amount would come from the BCCI’s corpus, for years idle instead of spent on
improving Indian cricket.
Further, the BCCI should distribute at least
30% of its yearly gross revenue equally (preferably based on population)
between all affiliated State Associations.
2
The BCCI and State
Associations must ensure that the nation’s existing cricket stadiums truly
support both the game and its fans.
At all stadiums, the BCCI and State
Associations must ensure spectator convenience, particularly with reference to
information booths, on-site medical assistance, adequate shelter from the
elements, separate hygienic rest rooms for men and women, free clean drinking
water, refreshment stands, sale of 90% of match tickets to ordinary cricket
lovers employing audited ticket sales with details of purchaser and time of
sale records, sale of tickets on the official website of host State
Association, numbered seating facilities, safety and fire exits, special
arrangements and priority to handicap and senior citizens, etc.
Each facility should have adequate practice and
playing facilities, lush green outfields, super suppers for effective
drainage of grounds, well equipped dressing rooms, state-of-the-art media
centers and, where appropriate, flood lights, electronic scoreboards,
and giant replay screens.
A task force comprised of former cricketers
should be empowered to periodically visit stadiums across the nation and report
on conditions for both fans and players.
Adverse reports shall entail penalties ranging from fines to immediate
suspension of a guilty State Association from the cricket calendar. The BCCI should complete an initial review of
stadiums, including public disclosure of committee reports, within two years.
3
The BCCI should strongly
encourage State Associations to establish dedicated teams responsible for
creating extensive networks of cricket fields and subsidiary stadiums to allow
as many cricket players as possible to play on the best possible surfaces. The State Associations should work with
parks and recreations departments of local governments to jointly introduce and
maintain these fields and pitches.
4
The BCCI should establish a central Research and
Development wing to research domestic production of artificial pitches,
next-generation artificial grass for outfields (e.g. Field Turf), bowling
machines, as well as video analysis and biomechanical analysis hardware and
software. Domestic production would
allow these devices and advances to spread affordably throughout Indian
cricket.
D
1
At present the BCCI runs a coaching academy, the National Cricket Academy
(NCA), on an ad hoc basis. Based in
At first glance, the
NCA seems to be on par with any other academy in the world. Certainly, it has state-of-the-art facilities
– gymnasium, bowling machines, video analysis, indoor nets – and some of the
biggest and finest cricketing minds of our country are involved from time to
time. But is it a winning venture?
The NCA is now five
years old, and, given its resources, it should have taken Indian cricket to a
different level altogether by now. The
supply line to the national team continues to be erratic and unstable. It has been noticed that many players who
represented
The main problems
with NCA are its short duration, the academy only operates for 5 months in a
year, and an inadequate system to monitor players after they leave the
academy. So while the NCA has acted as a
springboard for many aspiring cricketers and almost six out of every 10 playing
competitive cricket, at various age levels, have had a taste of the academy at
some point, much of the NCA’s work is wasted once the player leaves the NCA.
2
The BCCI should immediately acquire a large area of land of its own,
whether through long-term lease or purchase, with the help of the State
Government concerned, and erect a full-fledged
The
3
The BCCI must ensure that the
The BCCI must ensure
that its affiliated State Associations provide players who leave the Central
Academy with comparable standards at the local leagues, both in terms of
resources available and fitness and training requirements.
4
The
5
The BCCI should ensure that the coaches of the
The BCCI should also
ensure that coaches at the state level interact with coaches in the various
schools and colleges in the region, passing on coaching techniques and general
encouragement.
6
The BCCI should ensure that the
7
The BCCI should ensure that the academies at the State, Zonal and Central
level purchase the latest in video graphic and biomechanics equipment, to be
operated by trained professionals, for use in training. In time, the BCCI should further extend this
infrastructure throughout the country so that aspiring cricketers anywhere, at
any level, have access to such resources.
8
The BCCI should enter into bilateral agreements with similar boards in
the advanced cricketing countries, whereby its players will be enabled to
regularly travel to coaching centers abroad.
Further, academy coaches should be required to visit academies abroad to
update their own knowledge of coaching skills and techniques.
Further, the BCCI and
the Academies should ensure that the
E
The BCCI
should schedule international cricket to maximize the participation of
international team players in domestic tournaments.
1
The BCCI must play a
minimum of 12 Tests and approximately 25 One Day Internationals in a season,
thereby ensuring that there is no clash between the domestic and international
calendars and players are available.
During the period
September 1997 to 2000 only
Of
course more ODIs mean more money for the BCCI.
Statistics prove that a short trip of Indian cricketers to play a few
matches at Singapore is more rewarding to the BCCI than a long trip to any other
cricket playing country, regardless of what is more valuable to the players as
regards learning and experience. Such
trips expose players to betting syndicates in non-regular venues such as
Sharjah,
2
The BCCI must ensure that no Indian team ever returns from a tour
unsuccessful because of faulty scheduling.
The BCCI must
construct tour schedules that allow for sufficient warm–up games before the
various Tests, as well as necessary travel and recovery time. The BCCI should also insist that whenever the
Indian national team tours abroad, host nations provide adequate practice
facilities, net bowlers, etc. Such
conditions must be incorporated in the BCCI’s tour agreements.
.
3
The BCCI should seek input from coaches and players
before scheduling fixtures.
The BCCI must ensure
that the players or their representatives (Players Association) are made an
integral part of the cricket management.
Thus, the coach should be co-opted members of various committees dealing
with pitches and grounds, scheduling of home and away fixtures, etc.
No fixture, either
home or away, should be finalized without the approval of the coach, who in
turn must present the draft schedules to the team members for discussion. Schedules must be drawn up by the BCCI with
due care being taken to space the tours out.
The BCCI must maintain the balance between home and away tours, the
overall objective being to ensure that in a four-year span of time, the
national team meets all other Test playing nations in Test and ODI series, at
home and away.
The BCCI must not
schedule cricket to be played in
4
The BCCI must ensure that national players play in the
domestic fixtures when not on national duty.
This would enhance the quality of domestic cricket and make it more
competitive.
According
to the rules of the BCCI, it is mandatory for national cricketers to play for
their respective affiliated State Association(s) or Zone when they are not on
national duty. However, due to the
extremely busy schedule charted out by the BCCI for the national players, the
latter hardly get any time to participate in domestic cricket. This has led to a decline in the standards of
domestic cricket, as a result of which hardly any players of international
standard are being thrown up. The off
shoot is that the reserve strength of the Indian Bench is weak when compared to
countries like
The BCCI must make
all contracted players give an unconditional undertaking that they will
compulsorily and without fail play in ALL major domestic tournaments when not
on national duty. The BCCI must follow
In such a scenario
even the selectors will be better placed to see who is ready to make the leap
to the next stage, greatly enhancing the quality of recruitment to the Indian
National Team. Moreover, presence of
international cricketers in the domestic cricket will undoubtedly encourage
junior cricketers and attract crowds to domestic cricket. I have reason to believe that the players
would welcome the contest as much as the selectors.
If, however, any
national player fails to participate in the domestic cricket when not on
national duty then BCCI must take immediate action by suspending the defaulter
player for at least five international matches and in case of any subsequent default, the player must be suspended
/ banned from participating in any international match for a period of one
year.
F
The BCCI should provide
at least 15 percent of its total annual earnings to develop and nurture cricket
at the grass root viz., school and college level. It is here from where the likes of Gavaskar,
Kapil, Tendulkar, Kambli, Kumble, Jadeja, Srinath, etc., were spotted and it is
at this level that the future of Indian cricket shall arrive. To achieve this goal, the BCCI must have a
long term strategy of providing schools and universities across the country
with special grounds, coaching, equipment, facilities and arranging
inter-school and inter-college tournaments.
G
Re-imagine
Domestic Cricket
On paper,
The Petitioner needs more time to
fully develop suggestions along these lines.
If desired by the BCCI, the Petitioner can in 3 to 4 months provide a
comprehensive document containing a new domestic league proposal.
V
Selection
of International Team
A
Rather than
five selectors, one from each zone, the BCCI should have a selection committee
chosen by merit, regardless of place of origin or residence, with the current
coach of the national team included as a voting member.
Zonal bias is one of the
greatest evils of the selection process today.
The present system encourages bias viz., choosing of selectors not on
merit but on their willingness to lobby on behalf of players from their
zone. While choosing a touring side,
perhaps the first ten or eleven places are uncontentious, but the remaining
five or six are subject to a process of intense bargaining, with selectors
ganging up in twos and threes to make sure that their men are chosen. The BCCI, however, must recognize that it is
imperative to avoid even the appearance of bias.
The BCCI should install a
pyramidal structure, which follows the same procedure at all levels, from the
bottom (the state) up. Each selection
committee – State and Central (BCCI) – must comprise of TWO full-time
professional selectors, aided by the coach who should be given full voting
powers. Each committee therefore would
have THREE total voting members.
A potential candidate to
qualify to become a selector must have experience of at least 20 Tests or 50
Ranji Trophy matches (as against the present norm which says any first class
player, of whatever experience, can become a selector).
Further, the BCCI must ensure
that any player, present or past, having business dealings with it or any of
its State Associations is disqualified from being a part of the three-member
selection committee. So also must former
players who run their own cricket academies be disqualified.
B
Members of the selection committee should have fixed terms,
e.g. four years from World Cup to World Cup, greater than the one year they are
currently accorded. The selectors should
be full-time employees of the BCCI and paid accordingly.
C
The BCCI should expand the support staff allocated to
selectors. The selection committee
should have the use of:
1
A video library of all
domestic and international matches for use by selectors and their supporting
coaches.
To the extent adequate video for domestic
matches is not provided by the BCCI’s broadcast partners or the host cricket
State Associations, the BCCI must employ a video team to film those
matches. The video team must be employed
full-time and sit with the coaches in either the head office of the BCCI or the
2
The selection committee
should be given a budget to hire coaches to watch and edit video of domestic
matches. Those coaches would produce
compilations, on their own initiative and on specific requests by selectors, to
help selectors understand the strengths and weaknesses of players. These coaches would, along with a
video archive of domestic seasons, sit in either the BCCI’s head office or the
3
A team of field talent
scouts, perhaps one per zone, whose brief will be to watch all first-class
games in that particular zone, and send periodic updates about the form and
caliber of various players to the committee for evaluation.
VI
Corporate Responsibility
A
The BCCI must discharge
its corporate responsibility by contributing 10 per cent of its annual revenues
to a central pool of the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of
India, which in turn must be equally distributed amongst all the recognized
sports / disciplines of India. This amount
of 10 per cent should be paid in lieu of the tax exemption status being granted
by the Government of
Even
though the BCCI is the richest cricketing body in the world and has accumulated
reserves worth hundreds of crores in its bank accounts, the BCCI has been granted tax exemption under section 10(23) of
the Income Tax Act which states that “exemption under this section is to be
allowed if and only if the association or institution applies its income
or accumulates its application, wholly and exclusively, to the objects
for which it has been established.” An
analysis of the accounts of the BCCI and its State Associations such as the
DDCA clearly reveal that most of their income is not being applied for the
objects for which they have been set up, namely promotion and development of
cricket in India but in fact is being applied on ever mounting establishment
expenses, committee meeting expenses, traveling expenses, purchase and sale of
liquor, cigarettes, playing cards, etc.
This is mainly due to the fact that, for most of the officers of the
BCCI, running the Board is an end in itself and the future of cricket is only
incidental.
In case the BCCI accepts the suggestions mentioned herein, it may be
exempted from paying Income Tax by the Government of
B
The BCCI should adopt
and fund women’s cricket in
VII
Full disclosure of
operations and performance details
A
The BCCI must make its
annual report along with a financial statement, duly audited, publicly
available and publish the same on its website.
Disclosure of the BCCI’s finances does not hinder its
operations, nor does disclosure hurt Indian cricket. Non-disclosure must be based on whether
disclosure aids or harms Indian cricket.
Annual reports with financial statements are available at
the websites of the ICC and various cricketing boards viz.,
It should be a primary goal of the BCCI to instill maximum
public faith in the Indian cricket administration. This would help followers of cricket in
Full disclosure of
financial information, along with details of BCCI tenders, offers and purchases
can help deter corruption through enhanced public scrutiny. The BCCI should make available detailed
accounts information, including all revenue and expenditure details grouped
into general categories in the annual report, available at its head office for
any member of the public or media to inspect.
As Indian cricket’s gross revenue will increase dramatically in the
coming years, such public oversight will gain in importance.
B
The BCCI and all its
affiliated State Associations must create their own website.
The BCCI and its State Associations should create websites
that contain, among other things, the BCCI and State Association Constitutions,
the BCCI and State Association vision statements, current and past year BCCI
and State Association annual reports and financial statements, a comprehensive
directory of cricket officials in the BCCI and State Associations including
links to State Association websites, information on how parents should help
children who want to learn cricket, information on all domestic players,
updates on the current activities of past stars, a comprehensive list of
domestic and international matches with ticket information allowing online
ticket purchases, a comprehensive summary of all district leagues in each state
as well as domestic cricket tournaments including match times / locations /
coverage and player details / statistics, as well as a summary of the academy
structure and activities.
C
Full-time media manager
and published vision documents (suggestions outlined above)
D
National archive and
museum
The BCCI should create a
comprehensive archive of cricket history.
It should strain every nerve to ensure that the museum houses every
cricket book ever published and the video of every cricket match that has ever
been filmed.
The national archive
must be maintained for the benefit of the players and the fans. Any citizen should be free to make use of the
available material, for reference, at any time, within the operating conditions
laid down by the institution. The cricket
videos will serve as an invaluable learning tool for aspiring cricketers of all
levels and would be shared with the
The museum must also
house all the shields, cups and trophies won by the Indian team right from its
inception till date, including the Prudential World Cup won by
VIII
Player Management
A
The BCCI should
recognize the Indian Cricket Players’ Association (ICPA) as a bargaining agent
for domestic and international players in
The BCCI must recognize ICPA,
as the ICC recognizes FICA. The BCCI
must negotiate with the ICPA, instead of with a few chosen players. A more professional interaction will ensure
that active players can concentrate on their game without room for distrust and
disharmony.
The BCCI must ensure
that its affiliated State Associations negotiate with the ICPA as well on all
aspects of cricket only with players, be it at the school, university, domestic
or international level.
B
The BCCI should
increase the amounts paid through its pension plan.
While the
decision to give a monthly allowance of Rs. 5,000/- was a welcome beginning,
this amount should be enhanced to Rs. 10,000/- for the 172 recipients. This would only increase the budgetary outlay
by a mere Rs. 8,60,000/-.
C
The BCCI must treat
former players with respect and honour.
The BCCI
must ensure that the past greats of Indian cricket are honoured. It must also make optimum use of the skills
and experience of these great cricketing personalities in every way possible
for the benefit of their successors.
It is common
for legendary Indian cricketers to not even be members of the State
Associations which they so proudly represented at the Ranji level. As such, the BCCI must ensure that every
state and national player of repute must be honored by his respective State
Association with honorary life membership and voting rights.
The BCCI
must implement a policy whereby players, present and past, especially
international cricketers and former captains of
THE BOTTTOM LINE IS, TO IMPROVE THE HIGHEST LEVEL, START
IMPROVING THE LOWEST LEVEL.
Apart from the
aforesaid suggestions, the BCCI pledged in the year 2000 to do whatever it
takes to achieve the goals and fulfill the commitments made in its May 2000
vision document within a period of 5
years. However, it is shocking to
see that in these 5 years the BCCI has made little effort to follow the path it
so laid down for itself. Some of the key
actions, amongst others, which the BCCI itself planned to undertake between
2000 and 2005, but has not even begun to address, are stated herein below: -
(a)
Creation of website for
the Cricket Board;
(b)
Introduction of Video
Feedback System;
(c)
Nomination of medical
panel to determine the fitness of players;
(d)
Nomination of medical
panel to determine the age of the players of Junior Cricket;
(e)
Prepare wicket of
International standards;
(f)
Issuing code of conduct
– more emphasis on ethical values;
(g)
Appointment of
Committee for dealing with illegal deliveries;
(h)
Re-schedule itineraries
to enable cricketers to participate in domestic cricket;
(i)
Issuing of guidelines
to Staging Associations for improving standard of the game;
(j)
Introduction of
Captains Report on Umpires for the matches in Junior Tournaments;
(k)
Discussion on Observers’ Report in
the Standing Committee;
(l)
Establishment of a
museum on cricket;
(m)
Long Term planning for
2002 (now 2007) World Cup to start immediately;
(n)
More emphasis on Junior
and ‘A’ Teams;
(o)
Strengthening of the
BCCI’s Office;
(p)
Construction of Head
Quarters for the BCCI;
(q)
Paying for National level
tournaments to be made mandatory;
(r)
Improvement in physical
fitness standards through introduction of Fitness Instruction, Physiotherapy,
Sports Medicine and Nutrition Programme throughout the country;
(s)
Improvement in mental
toughness through Psycho Analyst;
(t)
Each State Association
to employ professional Chief Operating Officer (CEO) as Executive Secretary;
(u)
Each State Association
to create at least one ground international standard with complete fitness
facilities;
(v)
Establish National
Coaching Council with Coaches at the National, Zonal and State level;
(w)
Establish National
Umpiring Council with Umpires at the National, Zonal and State level.
The Petitioner has relied on the thoughts, feedback and
contribution of numerous present and former cricketers, cricket administrators
and others intimately involved with the game. This document is submitted as a
humble attempt to help improve the game of cricket in
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