‘Centre to review whether to legalise betting in cricket’
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Law Commission of India to examine the issue of bringing BCCI under the ambit of Right to Information Act (RTI) saying that since the board is discharging public functions, public has a right to know and demand information regarding its activities.
It said since those public functions are in nature of a monopoly in the hands of BCCI with tacit state government and central government approvals and the beneficiary being the citizens, there was a need for bringing its functioning under the transparency law.
A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice F M I Kalifulla, which accepted majority of the recommendations of Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in BCCI, observed that “as a possible first step” it expected that Law Commission would deal with it and make a suitable recommendation to the government.
While reading out the operative portion of the judgement, the CJI said the bench was leaving it to Parliament to decide whether functioning of BCCI can be brought under RTI. The Lodha panel had said that people of the country have a right to know the details about the BCCI’s functions and activities and had recommended that legislature must seriously consider bringing the cricket body within the purview of the RTI Act.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Law Commission to examine the Justice R M Lodha committee’s recommendation to legalise betting in cricket.
A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice F M I Kalifulla, which accepted majority of the recommendations of Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in BCCI, said that since this issue involves enactment of a law, it should be examined by the government. “So also the recommendation made by the Committee that betting should be legalised by law, involves the enactment of a law which is a matter that may be examined by Law Commission and Government for such action as it may consider necessary in the facts and circumstances of the case,” it said. (PTI)