The Law Commission has recommended that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with its constituent member cricketing associations be covered under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The Commission, headed by Justice (retd) B S Chauhan, has held that BCCI exercises state-like powers affecting the fundamental rights of the stakeholders, guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution. The Commission also noted that it falls under the definition of a public authority that has received substantial financing from governments.
Hence, it has been recommended that BCCI be viewed as an agency or instrumentality of State. The Commission submitted its report to the government on Wednesday. The constituent member cricketing associations could also be covered under the RTI Act “provided they fulfil the criteria applicable to BCCI”.
The Supreme Court had referred the contentious matter to the Commission for consideration. Significantly, despite notices and reminders, the BCCI neither responded nor participated in the consultations done by the Commission.
The Commission has spelled out relevant factors that ought to be taken into consideration. “The uniform of the players of the Indian team (as selected by BCCI) contains the national colours and their helmets display the Ashok Chakra. BCCI, though not a National Sports Federation (NSF), nominates cricketers for the Arjuna awards etc”, reads the report.
It adds that “the Parliament and the State Legislatures chose not to enact a legislation to govern the sport of cricket reflecting tacit recognition on the issue
afforded to BCCI”
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