Govt collecting material on alleged BCCI mismanagement

Govt collecting material on alleged BCCI mismanagement
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, MAY 16: The Centre informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that it was collecting material on the issue of alleged mismanagement of cricket by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and said it needed more time to submit its reply.

``The Government is collecting more material in the case and will be filing an affidavit within two weeks,'' advocate Pratibha Singh appearing for the government told a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice DK Jain.

While adjourning the hearing to July 12, the bench said ``this is a matter which should be monitored by the Ministry of Sports.''

The court had last month issued notices to the Centre, BCCI and others on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by two cricket fans -- Rahul Mehra and Shantanu Sharma -- alleging that BCCI and its member associations had been functioning in an arbitrary and opaque manner without any accountablility for their actions and even their accounts.

BCCI counsel KK Venugopal took serious objection to the ``trial by media'' on the issue and pointed that a newspaper had even held an opinion poll on the PIL.

Taking note of it, the bench said ``If the trial is to be conducted by the media then why should the petitioner come to the court.''

Petitioner's counsel Prashant Bhushan, however, said the issue relates to public interest and it could not be kept out of media.

Bhushan said the BCCI ``is a state-sponsored monoply. It is created by the government and given complete powers to monoplise the game of cricket in India.''

The PIL had alleged that BCCI and its member associations were acting contrary to the objectives for which they were created and development and promotion of the game was suffering at the cost of board functionaries.

Seeking audit of the accounts of BCCI and other member associations by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the PIL alleged that a wide gap existed between the Board's income and expenditure since 1987 World Cup played in the sub-continent.

``Revenues appear to have increased at an average rate of about 28 per cent per annum, while expenditures have shown a relatively sluggish growth of 21 per cent per annum,'' it said.

Accusing the BCCI of ``ignoring'' development of the game in the country, the PIL alleged that only about two per cent of its revenue was being spent on coaching and other related activities while travelling expenditure had risen to about 40 per cent during past 11 years.

Stating that most of the member associations of BCCI were headed by non-cricketing people, the PIL alleged that their office bearers were least interested in the game.