IPL 2019 to go ahead without any Chairman or Governing Council, reveals BCCI official

IPL 2019 to go ahead without any Chairman or Governing Council, reveals BCCI official

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BCCI

For the first time in the IPL history, the league will be played without any chairman or governing council members as the AGM will be held only after the election, a BCCI official revealed. Now, CoA, BCCI CEO, BCCI CCO and the office bearers will be responsible for the smooth conduct of the league.

When Lalit Modi conceptualised IPL on the Wimbledon court by sitting with IMG planners, he took the challenge head-on and was successful in making IPL a big brand in only a couple of years. However, as the seasons progressed, he started doing things like bypassing the governing council while taking decisions, not following proper processes, bid rigging, awarding contracts to his friends, accepting kickbacks on a broadcast deal, selling franchises to members of his family, betting and money laundering, which forced BCCI to suspend Modi on 22 charges in 2010.

Following that, the GC and the chairman of the committee have started taking the process through regular meetings and there has never been any big IPL decision without the consent of GC. However, a BCCI official has today revealed that 2019 will be without any chairman and Governing Council due to the uncertainty regarding the AGM. 

“Yes, the new chairman will be appointed only after elections are conducted and as of now, all IPL matters will be looked into by the CoA, IPL COO, CEO and the office-bearers,” a BCCI official told Hindustan Times.

Of all seasons, the 2019 season is more contentious and controversy-ridden due to a number of factors. While the BCCI is still unsure about the dates and venues of the tournament - due to World Cup and Federal Election in the country - the need for a GC is all the more important, in the current context. In such circumstances, the said BCCI official is not sure about how the league is going to happen.

“In all its years, this is the first time that the IPL is without a chairman or even a governing council. It is a dangerous situation to be in since the decision making is anything but democratic and even in the past it was such a scenario when decision making was centred in one man, a former IPL chairman, that the BCCI was rocked by financial scandals.

“The Lodha panel in its report had said that the idea of the report was to ensure that concentration of too much power in one man is avoided but that seems to be exactly what has been achieved,” he added. 

CoA had disbanded all committees except for the selection committees and the Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. However, the official disagreed with such a move and stated that the board would have been better served with experienced hands working in unison. He also went on to ask if an ad-hoc committee can be formed to select women’s team coach, then what was the problem in forming a committee to run the IPL. 

“If you stop to think about it, there was no real necessity to disband all committees of the BCCI including the IPL Governing Council and this may have been done by the chairman of the CoA only with the objective of usurping all the powers, roles and responsibilities of the BCCI,” he said.

“The Doctrine of Necessity was invoked to constitute a committee to select the women team’s coach even when other options were there, but this doctrine seems to be on an extended holiday in case of the functioning of the BCCI and the IPL. Is this because someone is too attached to the position and power of the BCCI? Maybe Rai is better placed to explain to the courts why an individual wants to continue in administration despite the fact that he is not being paid. Maybe now he can better explain the so called ‘vested interests that make people want to continue as administrators’ that he keeps on harping about,” he signed off.

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