Litigation cost in CoA era: Rs 119 crore

BCCI's Joint Secretary Jayesh George (left), president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah and treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal at the Indian cricket boardu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s head office in Mumbai yesterday. Pic/ Suresh Karkera

The newly elected body took charge of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) yesterday, but the implementation of the Justice Lodha Committee reforms has cost Indian cricket board dear. BCCI sources revealed that Rs 119 crore has been spent as legal expenses in the last four years.

However, this legal expenditure isn't restricted to the Supreme Court hearings and senior counsels hired to implement the Lodha Committee reforms. They also include other legal expenses of the Board like arbitration in Pakistan Cricket Board's claims (for not participating in series) and income tax litigation.

"But, out of the Rs 119 crore, a chunk was spent on the implementation of Lodha reforms," a BCCI official told mid-day. It is understood that over Rs 40 crore has been paid to the BCCI's legal team, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas while senior counsels' fees run up to R5 lakh for one Supreme Court hearing. These are just the BCCI legal expenses. The state associations have incurred huge expenses towards legal charges," the official said.

The state units' legal expenses are estimated to be around Rs 10 crore to Rs 35 crore, depending on the litigation and senior counsels hired. State units like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had hired top legal counsels like Tushar Mehta and Kapil Sibal respectively. A lot of the state associations have still filed Interlocutory Applications in the Supreme Court over pending issues regarding their constitution.

BCCI Treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal said one of his objectives is to cut down on the BCCI legal expenses during his three-year tenure. "Obviously, when so much of the organisation's money has gone towards legal expenses, it is a big concern. We will try and see how we can cut down the legal expenses wherever possible," Dhumal told mid-day.

Meanwhile, the old BCCI guard may not hold any position in the new BCCI body, but have ensured relatives got elected. After dwelling on the legal expenses incurred by the Board, a senior BCCI member remarked sarcastically: "If this is what the change was supposed to be, it should have been done long ago. Why did we fight all this while? Ultimately, only the lawyers have benefited from this."

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