Almost everyone in India knows that BCCI is the governing body for all the cricket played within the country.It is, by far, the richest cricket board in the world. It has the authority to select players, umpires and officials to participate in international events and exercises total control over them. Without its recognition, no competitive cricket involving Indian players can be hosted within or outside the country.
But it was only after the recent hue and cry, that I became aware of the fact that BCCI is a "private club consortium." BCCI had avoided taxes on its income, claiming exemption as a charitable organization. According to the Income Tax Department, BCCI only paid tax amounting to 41.91 crore (US$7.7 million) against its tax liability of 413 crore (US$76 million) in the 2009-10 financial year
And so the BCCI officials evade the demands of coming under the right to information act, by claiming to be a private charitable organization. The Sports Ministry, however has said although there is no direct funding of the BCCI, it gets "substantial indirect funding" from the government in the form of revenue forgo like "concessions in income tax, customs duty, etc" and land at concessional rates for stadiums.
Despite being a private body, it has on numerous occasions clashed with ICC over ego issues. Does this not harm the image of the country?
And then there is IPL. When you have a President of a State association mentoring another team in the IPL, running a player management company, how do we expect transparency and non-interference when the process of accreditation begins? The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the BCCI never took its brief seriously and now the Indian cricket finds itself in this disgraceful mess.
Whatever is to be done about the players, bookies and ‘Vindoo’es in this spot fixing case, will now be done by the police and the law. What the BCCI needs to do is clear the weeds that have cropped up within the system. Else we might end up destroying the game, just as it happened with Hockey, where officials blinded by greed had put their personal ambitions before the game.
Indian cricket is very close to becoming a joke all over the world. It doesn't look like the BCCI can do much to better the game. But it has the duty to at least restore Indian cricket to where it belonged. A proper home cleaning is the need of the hour. If not; well then the government, meaning the sports ministry, should be ready to take over the control of conducting cricket in the country.
