NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, has allowed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to release of Indian rupees 1 crore 33 lakh as funds for the last two Test matches between India and England, in Mumbai and Chennai. The fixture at the Wankhede begins on Thursday (Dec 8).

The apex court, however, declined BCCI’s plea to release a further 3.79 crore for the six limited-overs internationals between India and England, to be played from Jan 15 to Feb 1, 2017, and sanctioned the release of only 25 lakh each for the three One-Day Internationals - to be played in Pune, Cuttack and Kolkata - and three Twenty20 Internationals — to be played in Kanpur, Nagpur and Bangalore.

Supreme Court also asked the BCCI to come clean with all the expenses incurred during the ongoing series and that they would all be audited.

BCCI had previously moved Supreme Court for the disbursement of adequate funds for the smooth functioning of the matches. Back in October, the Supreme Court had ordered the Indian cricket board to halt all fundings to their state associations until the latter adopted the Lodha panel recommendations in toto. The apex court had also pronounced that the amount given by BCCI to the 12 state associations after the board’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 21 would be frozen and released only after the concerned associations pledge that they would adopt all the reforms.

With the associations continuing to mull over the pros and cons of such a move, the issue has dragged on. During New Zealand’s tour of India, there were speculations that the BCCI might have to cancel the third Test in Indore owing to SC’s directive on fund allocation. The apex court, however, came out and stated that BCCI was free to conduct all its routine transactions and as such, any match or series scheduled, can go ahead.

A similar threat loomed over the England series too, with BCCI secretary even writing to England team manager Phil Neal on November 7, asking the visitors to bear expenses during their tour. Shirke had explained in his letter, the board’s legal complications and their inability to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) due to lack of directives from the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee.

On November 8, the court then allowed BCCI to release an amount of INR 58.66 lakh for each of the first three Tests of the England series.

Published in Dawn December 8th, 2016