NEW DELHI: The Law Commission is reportedly ready with its recommendations that, if implemented, will make the BCCI a ‘public body’ or, alternatively, a private body that is required to respond to public queries under the Right to Information Act.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the world’s richest cricket body, operates as a private entity under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.
Law Commission chairman Justice B S Chauhan told Times of India that the panel had finalised its report on BCCI which would soon be submitted to law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“We have found that BCCI is eminently qualified to be classified as ‘state’ under Article 12 of the Constitution,” Justice Chauhan told the daily.
Sources told TOI the law panel unanimously concluded that given BCCI’s monopoly over the most popular and cash-rich game in India and its public nature of work, coupled with substantial financing from governments over the years in the form of tax exemptions and allotment of land, it must be classified as a ‘public body’ and brought under the RTI Act. In its July 2016 judgment, the Supreme Court had asked the commission to examine the legal framework to bring BCCI under the RTI Act.
The report was finalised after exhaustive examination of law, SC judgments and views from the public by Justice Chauhan and members Justice Ravi R Tripathi, S Sivakumar and Sanjay Singh, the daily reports.
Recalling a statement by the sports minister in Lok Sabha that the government already regarded BCCI as a national sports federation, the commission recommended that for removal of any doubt, the board may be explicitly mentioned in the list of NSFs given on the ministry’s website. “This express mention will automatically bring BCCI within the purview of RTI Act,” a source told TOI.
