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New Delhi - India's Supreme Court Monday appointed a top
anti-corruption trouble-shooter as the head of a new team to run the powerful
cricket board, weeks after sacking its top officials for a delay in
implementing reforms.
Former government auditor Vinod Rai, who exposed large-scale
corruption scandals under the previous Congress-led government, will head the
new administration at the helm of the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI).
He will be joined by the prominent historian Ramachandra Guha, banker Vikram Limaye and former cricketer Diana Edulji. It was not immediately clear how long the four would be in place or their exact titles.
The court dismissed BCCI president Anurag Thakur and his
deputy from their positions on January 2 over their failure to implement a
series of reforms recommended by a panel headed by former judge Rajendra Mal
Lodha.
The court then asked two lawyers, known as amicus curie
(friends of the court), to suggest nine names to run the board after ruling
that government employees, ministers and anyone aged over 70 cannot be part of
the organisation.
Charges of corruption and nepotism have dented the image of
the board in recent years. Cricket lovers have demanded that the courts
intervene in the running of the privately-run organisation.
The board has been embroiled in a series of scandals,
including accusations of corruption in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and a
betting scandal involving an IPL team linked to its former head Narayanaswami
Srinivasan.
Cricket's massive popularity in India has helped the board become by far the wealthiest of all of the sport's national boards.
