Govt looking at changes in law to tame BCCI

The government is considering legislative action to bring all-India organisations such as the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) within the purview of the Societies Registration Act to make them more accountable.

"I am looking at whether it is possible to have a central registry for societies that are registered for all-India purposes," Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters when asked what steps his ministry was taking to make societies, like the BCCI, more accountable, especially after the IPL fiasco.

The Ministry, he added, is also planning to set up an expert group to study and workout the details of the changes. BCCI, which has an all-India presence and is the parent organisation of the IPL Twenty20 cricket matches, is registered and governed by the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.

Societies Registration Act, which is administered by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, dates back to 1860. It is like a model act that has been adopted by the states. "I think we should change the Act. I am reflecting on it. It is not something that I can do alone, there are other stakeholders too," he said, adding, "It is largely a model Act. It is not an act under which people register societies."

Amendments to the Societies Registration Act and establishment of central registry would ensure central government's control on societies like the BCCI, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other entities with a pan-India presence. The government, he added, would also have to look at the whole issue from the point of view of the centre-state relations as most of the societies are registered under the state laws.

"Before we can actually take a final view, we want to have a group of experts examine all these issues, looking at it from the point of view of centre-state relations," Khurshid said. As far as IPL franchisees are concerned, the Minister said, "We are concerned only with that limited exercise-whether the company law compliance is there or not there...wherever compliance was lacking we have asked the RoCs to make sure it is completed and if they are not then whatever sanctions follow under the company law, they should be applied."

Following the controversy over ownership of the Kochi IPL franchise, where Rendezvous Sports World had given 19 per cent of its 25 per cent stake as sweat equity to Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, the MCA had asked the RoCs to fetch details of all IPL franchisees for "due diligence".