BCCI Awaits Review Petition of Lodha Panel Recommendation Ahead of September AGM

The Board of Control for Cricket in India will be holding its Annual General Meeting on September 21 as per its existing constitution and is expected to wait for the Review petition verdict before getting into the implementation phase of the Lodha Committee Reforms.

"The BCCI will have its AGM in Mumbai on September 21. It will be held as per the existing constitution," BCCI President Anurag Thakur told reporters after its working committee meeting here.

However, the validity of the AGM will depend on the Lodha Committee as it can term the meeting null and void as per the Supreme Court verdict passed on July 18.

Asked about filing of the first compliance report to the committee on the 11-point reform implementation, Thakur said: "We have already filed a review petition. The state associations have been supplied with the document given to us by the three-member committee."

However, Thakur, who recently attended the Asian Cricket Council Meeting in Colombo, said the continental body has expressed concerns about outside interference.

"In a recent meeting of the ACC, concerns were expressed about outside interference in Boards like Nepal, Sri Lanka and BCCI. The ACC asked about the possible implications of such interference," said the BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh.

Speaking to the members of the Working Committee, it was learnt that implementations will be awaited but a Compliance report will be filed.

"We will be awaiting the verdict of Review Petition. The implementation part starts after that. Obviously a Compliance Report will be submitted to the Committee with relevant details. As far as the Constitutional amendments of state associations are concerned, it will be only done after the BCCI constitution is amended," a senior official from a state association told PTI post meeting.

It was business as usual for BCCI as the Annual Budget and Auditor's reports were approved.

In another move, the BCCI is planning to considerably slash rates of Test match tickets to attract more crowd and also have various promotional schemes to get school children.

The details regarding Ranji Trophy's neutral venues were also discussed.

Apart from President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke, prominent members like Rajeev Shukla and Sharad Pawar also attended the meeting.

Among the other decisions taken, the daily allowance for the India Under-19 boys team and senior India women team was increased and fixed at par with the senior India men team.

All of them will get USD 125 per day on international tours and equivalent of USD 100 in the home series.

The proposed expenditure for the ground preparation, ground equipment, indoor academy for Meghalaya and Nagaland were approved. The domestic tournament schedule was approved and will be announced shortly.