Lodha committee recommends legalizing betting in landmark report to SC

The three-member committee comprising Justice (Retd) RM Lodha, Justice (Retd) Ashok Bhan and Justice (Retd) R.V. Raveendran has proposed the legalisation of betting with safeguards to curb the malice of illegal betting that surrounds cricket.

The committee also proposed the separation of the governing bodies for the BCCI and the IPL and recommended the legislature to seriously consider bringing BCCI within the purview of the RTI Act.

"Some of the things we discussed with Shashank Manohar, he immediately put those into action. First thing we did was interact with BCCI officials - all except the President and Secretary appeared (both responded to questionnaire)" Justice Lodha said in the press conference.

The committee also has proposed the restriction on the term of BCCI officials to just two and recommended having only one association for one state.

It also has recommended relegation of Railways, Services and Universities as Associate members.

Other recommendations of the panel:

• Limited autonomy for IPL Governing Council

• The constitution and establishment of a players association

• Steering committee headed by former Home Secretary G K Pillai with Mohinder Amarnath, Diana Eduljee.

• No BCCI office-bearer can hold two posts at the same time.

• No BCCI office-bearer can be Minister or government servant

• Ethics Officer will decide on conflict of interest

Lodha committee was appointed by the Apex court last year to make recommendations to the BCCI in order to prevent frauds and conflict of interest in cricket administration in the country. The committee had also earlier suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for two years from the IPL in July last year.