KOLKATA: Retired Chief Justice of the Haryana and Punjab High Court Mukul Mudgal on Sunday, stated he was “certainly” disappointed with the ways things have gone BCCI’s way despite the Supreme Court verdict on the Justice (Retd) RM Lodha Committee recommendations being “final”.
Justice Mudgal told IANS on the sidelines of his lecture session titled “Sports and Governance: The Way Forward” here at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival that he was of the view that the Supreme Court agreeing to modify certain recommendations of the Lodha Committee as they may “not be a good idea in this country”, was unwarranted.
Justice Mudgal said: “Certainly yes. I would like to tell a little about the procedure of the Supreme Court. If there is a judgement which is generally final, you can file a review petition against it which again is rare to succeed.
“But if review fails, you have the Curative petition which is even more difficult to succeed at. BCCI has tried both these remedies and both have gone. Now for the Supreme Court in the current format, to entertain BCCI and give then an opportunity of saying ‘what can you obey and what you cannot obey’, I don’t think if it was any other field, this would have been given.
“Supposing this was a direction given to a bank, you won’t ask the banker ‘can you give this much… no’. I think the law of the land says the judgement is final particularly after review and curative petition.”
Justice Mudgal said he does not agree with all the recommendations made by the Lodha Committee, but the law of the land cannot be tampered with.
“I don’t agree with everything the Lodha Committee has said. There are some things which needed to be corrected. But nevertheless, the judgment was final and the discipline of the law required no tampering with the SC verdict.”
On the matter of the long in the tooth sports fraud bill, Justice Mudgal expressed the hope that under current Union Sports Minister and Olympic medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the it would finally see the light of day.
“I hope it (the bill) comes through. Both the bills are pending. Sporting fraud bill as well as the sports bill,”
The (Prevention of) Sporting Fraud Bill, drafted in the aftermath of the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing case, stipulates jail term for officials, sportspersons and entities involved in corrupt practices in sport.
Justice Mudgal, who headed the committee which investigated allegations of spot-fixing and betting in the IPL, has been pressing the Central government to enact the bill for a long time.
Asked how long will it take for the bill to be passed, Justice Mudgal said: “You should ask Parliament as well as the government.”
The proposed bill contains provisions for five-to-six years of jail to those, including private companies, directly or indirectly indulging in or attempting any sporting fraud.
It clearly defines ‘inside information’ and ‘sporting fraud’ and states that ‘manipulation or attempt to manipulate result(s), irrespective of whether the outcome is actually altered or not’, will incur a jail term. Countries such as Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Germany, Poland and Denmark already have laws for prevention of sporting frauds since betting is legal there.
On his new role as chairman of FIFA review and governance committees, Justice Mudgal said his job is to suggest reforms to the world soccer governing body and check integrity matters while recruiting people.
“We are suggesting reforms which should be carried out by FIFA. The second is review committee which means every person who wants to be elected to FIFA or wants to be appointed to a post in FIFA has to go through an integrity check from us… the committee of three. These are the major things.”
