JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Friday directed an inquiry to ascertain if BCCI President Anurag Thakur sought a letter from the ICC chairperson Shashank Manohar to declare that appointing a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General in the cricket board would amount to “governmental interference”.
A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur said that a copy of this order shall be sent to the ICC chairperson “in order to enable him to consider filing a response setting out his version, to set the record straight and assist this court.”
Manohar, the court said, is at liberty to obtain a report from Dave Richardson, who in an interview claimed that Thakur asked the ICC chairperson to issue a letter saying Lodha panel's recommendation was a “governmental interference”.
BCCI general secretary Ratnakar Shetty had earlier filed an affidavit in the court accusing Richardson of ‘falsely’ making this claim. But Thakur’s affidavit had admitted that he had sought a clarification from Manohar on this point.
“Prima facie, an effort has been made by the president of BCCI to create a record in order to question the legitimacy of the recommendation of the committee for the appointment of a CAG nominee after the recommendation was accepted by this court on July 18, 2016,” the court said.
The bench added it was “a matter of serious concern” that Thakur, after the final judgment, requested the ICC Chairperson for a letter “clarifying” the position. The court clarified that it was desisting from replacing the BCCI’s top brass with a set of administrators as proposed by the committee “so as to enable BCCI to demonstrate its good faith and the steps taken for compliance both before the committee in the first instance and before this Court by the next date of hearing.”
Thakur’s reaction
Meanwhile, Thakur on Friday steered clear of commenting on the latest diktat by the apex court, saying he is yet to go through the order.
“What impact it will have on cricket, we cannot comment before going through the order. Once we get the copy of judgement we shall respond. There are difficulties which have been placed in front of the court,” Thakur told reporters.
The cricket body has been told not to disburse any funds to its state units till they resolved to abide by the Lodha panel recommendations.