SC permits BCCI to release funds for the remaining two India-England Tests

The Supreme Court has allowed the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to release INR 1 crore 33 lakh as funds for the last two Test matches between India and England, in Mumbai and Chennai. Earlier, the BCCI had requested the Supreme Court for the disbursement of adequate funds for the smooth execution of the cricket matches. The decision to disburse the money was taken by an SC bench, headed by the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur.

This news comes as a great relief for the BCCI, as now the remaining two Tests of the ongoing 5-Test series will take place as scheduled. The Supreme Court, however, did not give in to all the requests made by BCCI as they declined their plea for INR 3.79 crore for the six limited-overs internationals – three ODIs and three T20s – between India and England, that are scheduled to start from January 15 and end on February 1.

They sanctioned the release of only INR 25 lakh each for the three ODIs to be played at Pune, Cuttack and Kolkata, and three Twenty20 Internationals to be played in Kanpur, Nagpur and Bangalore.

The SC will also be auditing the expenses made by the BCCI in the on-going series, and have asked cricket governing body to come clean before the audit takes place.

Earlier in October, the SC froze the bank accounts of the BCCI until they accepted the recommendations made by the Lodha Committee. They had asked the BCCI to halt all the funding made to the 12 state associations until they adopted all the reforms suggested by Lodha.

In fact, this move by the SC had even put the third Test against New Zealand at Indore under the threat of being cancelled. The apex court, however, later came out and stated that BCCI was free to conduct all its routine transactions and the Test series against the Kiwis can go ahead.

In fact, there were speculations about the future of the England series being under danger, when the BCCI secretary, Ajay Shirke requested Phil Neal, the manager of the England Team to bear their expenses on the tour from their own pockets.

It will be interesting to see how long the BCCI-Lodha tussle lasts since it can also put the future of the 2017 season of the Indian Premier League in serious danger, if the BCCI continue to keep a rigid stand and fail to comply with Lodha’s demands.

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