New Delhi, Apr 19: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should be brought under the ambit of the RTI Act, the Law Commission said on Wednesday noting that it falls under the definition of a public authority which has received substantial financing from governments
It also said non-consideration of the role played by the BCCI as “monopolistic” in regulation of the game of cricket has resulted in the board “flying under the radar of public scrutiny, encouraged an environment of opacity and non-accountability”
In July 2016, the Supreme Court had asked the commission to recommend whether the cricket board can be brought under the Right to Information Act
There have been demands to bring the cash-rich cricket body under RTI to usher in transparency
The report, submitted to the Law Ministry on Wednesday, states that BCCI ought to be classified as ‘state’ within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution
The report pointed out that BCCI has received “substantial financing” from appropriate governments in the form of tax exemptions and land grants
The BCCI has enjoyed tax exemptions of “thousands of crores”, the report said. “To be precise, between 1997-2007, the total tax exemption amounted to Rs twenty-one billion six hundred eighty-three million two hundred thirty-seven thousand four hundred eighty-nine. It may also be noted here that from 2007-2008 onwards, the registration of BCCI under section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, as a charitable trust, was withdrawn,” it noted
Therefore, the BCCI should be held accountable, under all circumstances, for any violations of basic human rights of the stakeholders, the report said.
