Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken fired a fresh salvo at the BCCI by saying that the government would decide the fate of the Sports Bill and not the BCCI. He also reiterated his objective of bringing the board and other sports federations under the purview of the Right to Information Act.

"What I am trying to say is that for the last so many years, whether it is the IPL or the functioning of other cricketing federation, it has been questioned by various agencies, even the Enforcement Directorate. If the Sports Bill had been in place, that will not happen. One, it will bring transparency in the functioning of the sports federations and it will give players more rights to run these federations," said Maken.

The BCCI recently said that until and unless its reservations were addressed by the sports ministry, the bill would not be acceptable even in its revised form. Maken said transparency in the working of the federations could be achieved only by bringing them under the RTI Act. He said the allegations of tax violation in running of the Indian Premier League should be looked into and asked the BCCI to come under the ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI) for its own good.

"As far as resistance to the RTI is concerned, maybe they have something to hide. And resistance to age and tenure rules is because many of them are scared that they will lose their jobs to younger people. Involvement of sportspersons in these Federations would mean that they will lose control over these bodies they run like private clubs at present," Maken told this newspaper.

Bollywood superstar and Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the holding of IPL II and Maken said such things, if found true, should not have happened.

"These things should not have happened and the government should look into this and the Enforcement Directorate and other agencies are doing that in IPL and related things," Maken said. "It's the public money it (Cricket Board) is getting and private companies should not benefit out of that. It's the money of fans and sports lovers and should be used transparently," he said.

There have been allegations of ill-gotten money flowing into the IPL from foreign tax havens.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA), meanwhile, lashed out at Maken for saying that he had no faith in it when it comes to handling huge amounts of money, with the body's acting-president Vijay Kumar Malhotra demanding a withdrawal of the statement.

Accusing the minister for playing a double game, the IOA warned him that these cheap tactics were going to boomerang on him sooner than later. "Exuberance does not mean that one should cross limits of decency. One has to temper his language," IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said in a statement here.

Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports said that the revised draft National Sports Development Bill, 2011 is an effort to streamline the Bill while retaining transparency, good governance and de-control from government intervention.Maken made it clear that the Bill attempts to rejig the image of his ministry as it is widely believed that it was directly interfering in sports.

The Bill is sent to Indian Olympic Association and all recognised national sports federations seeking their feedback within two weeks, the minister said. Unlike the previous version, this Bill eliminates the power of the government to recognise National Olympic Committee and National Sports Federation. In case of any flouting of law, the government can refer the matter to the Independent Appellate Sports Tribunal.

There will be no duplicity of work as the Bill proposes to continue with the registration until it is suspended or cancelled by the Appellate Sports Tribunal, Maken said. From now on, all penalties that are levied by the Appellate Sports Tribunal would vest with the National Sports Development Fund Scheme for retaining sports fund, as per the proposed Bill. 

The Sports Ombudsman and the National Sports Development Council stand removed in the new draft. Earlier in August this year, the National Sports Bill saw stiff resistance in the cabinet. Maken, who saw the development as a setback said he would try and complete the fine tuning work of the bill as quickly as possible.

“We are waiting for the minutes of the cabinet meeting. Once we get that, we will start reworking the National Sports Development Bill and place it before the cabinet again,” Maken said in August this year. “We will consult the ministers to know their specific objections and address those as much as possible in the bill. Hopefully we will be able to get the cabinet’s clearance next time around,” he said. Maken during that time did not give a time frame on when he would complete the fine tuning work.

BCCI have all rights to object Indian Government from controlling them and at same time they are subjected to accept a move under RTI. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is a private body and it by no means can be called as Indian sports body. So, that means so far Sachin, Dravid, Dhoni and all other players represented BCCI team not Indian team? Answer is straight yes. 

From the beginning, BCCI is not under the control of Indian government any time and it is evolved to the current state through some brilliant planning and execution by its members.  Still BCCI hasn’t doing all this alone as it received many indirect help from Indian government in the forms of tax exceptions, stadium availability, security providing, travelling arrangements, etc.,

As a private body, BCCI is not entitled to anyone not even to the public of India when it comes to their rules and procedures being followed. BCCI is like an organization run on his own with players at lower level and management at top level. Just like in any cricket field, peoples are mere spectators here. BCCI form their own rules, discuss between them and approve among them about what to be followed and how it to be done. BCCI doesn’t need to explain anything such as on what grounds selection for the post of BCCI post is done, how finance management is done, how broadcastings rights are approved, procedures and routines that are been followed, decisions about sacking coaching staff or removing member of BCCI, amount sent to each state associations, etc., to anyone not even to the Government of India.

Now if BCCI comes under RTI i.e. Right to Information Act, then they are entitled to both the people of India and Government of India. BCCI has to submit the audits details to government on yearly basis and also publish it so that all the peoples of India can read it. BCCI must release all the details like for example players contract details, criteria’s on what basis team is selected and list of players the who are considered for the selection, the exact amount for which broadcasting rights are sold and to whom, IPL auction details and salary given by each IPL team to players, etc., In short, BCCI actions will be transparent. Not only the members of BCCI, all the peoples and government of India will know all the details. The election for BCCI posts need to be recorded which can be telecasted live and documented too which needs to be released.

Hereafter as a citizen of India I can come to know how the players are selected, cash income and expenditure, contract details between IPL teams & BCCI and IPL teams & players, complete details of coach reports after each tour/series, minutes of each BCCI meetings and everything as a stakeholder I need to know, will be made to know. This move will make the people of India as stakeholders rather than just spectators. This will put the end for a question whether players representing country or BCCI.

The new Sports Bill not only wants BCCI to come under RTI but all other 44 sports bodies which are already under the government too. BCCI can negotiate on how much control government can have on them because they earned the current status. Government doesn’t do anything to telecast the 83 world cup final and also refused to provide any reward after India won it. BCCI gave rewards to players by raising money through organizing functions helped by Lata Mangeskar who sung for nothing in return. All this years, BCCI developed the game so much without any direct help from government and they deserve to continue in that way without anyone controlling from the top but in transparent manner.

The BCCI seems to care very little for 'public perception' apparently most board officials thought there was nothing wrong with only 1000 online tickets being available for the World Cup Final in Mumbai because they need to answer more to their own members rather than cricket fans. 

Politics in the Indian cricket establishment is a mirror reflection of what happens during national elections.  The class (read millions of cricket viewing public) which ensures BCCI generates the revenue is treated with sheer contempt as it does not happen to be its core constituent/electorate which in fact happens to be its own Member State Association(s).  This problem is compounded by the fact that almost all administrators in BCCI are powerful politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists who hold 'honorary' posts instead of professionals or players who love the game and understand its various nuances.  BCCI, like our political class, is arrogant and insensitive towards its key stakeholder, the aam aadmi.  Be that as it may, I do feel that in the near future, BCCI will be forced by the public, media and courts to be professional in its operations, accountable in its dealings and transparent in its functioning.  A progressive and proactive step in this direction is soon going to be taken by none other than the Honourable Sports Minister Mr. Ajay Maken by tabling a historic "National Sports Development Bill", akin to a Jan Lokpal for Sports.  However, the Bill may not have smooth passage because some important Cabinet Ministers have clear conflict of interest as they are with the BCCI as its office-bearer.

BCCI has primarily contended before the CIC that being a private, charitable, autonomous and non-statutory body it does qualify to be a 'public authority' as defined under section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act (RTI) and hence is not duty bound to disclose any information to any member of the public. Counsel for the BCCI also relied upon a judgment passed by the Honourable Supreme Court of India in case titled "Zee Telefilms versus Union of India and Others" wherein it was held in February 2005 that BCCI is not a "State" under Article 12 of the Constitution of India. 

Another argument made by BCCI's counsel before the CIC is that BCCI is not recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, (MYAS) Government of India as the NSF governing the game of cricket in India and hence cannot be equated with other NSF's who have sought such recognition.  Finally, BCCI claimed that for any sports body to fall under RTI Act it must be substantially funded, directly or indirectly, by the state which is not the case as regards BCCI as it does not take any financial assistance from the Government of India.  In a nut shell, it was argued that BCCI is a monopoly with complete autonomy without any accountability.

A close look at BCCI's recent history, be it the match-fixing scandal of 2000 or the 2007 World Cup debacle, reveals that it has never seriously engaged itself in identifying and/or sorting the core issues and problems that plague Indian cricket.  All that BCCI has indulged in is making tall promises by appointing committees comprising of former legendary cricketers and thus shooting from their respected shoulders.  Administrators have often furthered their agenda by using iconic players as a potent shield.  BCCI promised a complete overhaul of Indian cricket due to relentless media and public pressure but all was forgotten within a few months and it was business as usual with the introduction of IPL in 2008.

Thereafter the cricket viewing public was made to believe that all is well despite the scandalous IPL gate.  Recently a combination of blatant lust for money which allowed the players to choose club over country, terrible tour scheduling, non-existent bench strength and mass injuries resulted in one of the worst ever defeats for our otherwise numero uno cricket team.  Lucky Dhoni and autocratic BCCI should, in fact, thank Anna Hazare's revolutionary movement which caught the imagination of the nation and did not leave any air time or column space for media to discuss the all pervasive systemic rot in BCCI.  But as we all know the more BCCI changes, the more it remains the same.  Therefore, I know for sure that BCCI, unless forced to, will keep resisting any form of change as maintaining status quo suits them the most.

In an era of utmost openness and transparency where even the deeds of judiciary is demanded to be under the public eye, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), termed just a private club consortium, is fighting tooth and nail to prevent bringing it under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act.

BCCI as well as most other sporting federations in India are relieved as the cabinet rejected the National Sports Development Bill. Aiming transparency and efficiency in running the sports federations in India, the bill was drafted after the gross corruption scandals broke out during the Commonwealth Games last year. 

However, the sports control bill presented by Sports Minister Ajay Maken was rejected by the cabinet and asked the minister to redraft the bill before it will be put before parliament. The cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly was not unanimous on many of its provisions and media reports quotes the PM as saying "The bill is good intentioned, but needs to be reworked to address objections."