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Two young men versus the BCCI

A few months earlier, two young men based in Delhi decided to take on the cricket establishment in the country, and on behalf of the millions of cricket fans in India, filed a Public Interest Litigation. That case has now been taken up for hearing. Provided here are excerpts, from the PIL as filed, for your information. And action. Read on, to find out what the two young men are fighting for, and what you can do to help...

At the threshold of the new millennium, there is no doubt that the game of cricket in India has reached the Everest of passion. If any higher peak can be discovered on earth, the glorious game in this country perhaps has the potential to surpass it as well. Cricket surely has assumed the character of religion and has cast its indelible impact on the cross-sections of the society. It is therefore firmly believed that the extraordinary popularity of cricket amongst the people of this country has given it a status of something more than merely a game and for many people in this country, it has become akin to religion and for a large number of people, it is a source of national pride or national shame as the case may be depending upon the performance of the Indian Cricket Team.

However, not much has been done by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a Society registered under "The Societies Registration Act", in 1940 which controls and manages the game of cricket in India, to ensure that it does not ignore the very objectives for which it was set up viz. development and promotion of cricket in India.

Some of the reasons why Indian cricket is in such a bad shape are because:-

1. BCCI and its Member Associations have been acting contrary to the objects for which they have been created, namely the development and promotion of cricket in India. Their actions have not only been against the interest of cricket but also against public interest. It's a paramount necessity to rescue the game of cricket from the hands of persons and organisations which have come to control it and who are misusing their control over the game for self-interest and self-propagation and perpetuation rather than for the development of the game in this country.

2. The manner in which BCCI and its Member Associations are organized and their process of election of the Office Bearers have enabled businessmen, traders, politicians and lawyers (who have little or no experience or interest in Cricket) to assume control of them and perpetuate their control. It is widely felt that there should be transparency in the way the BCCI operates and is elected. Everyone else but cricketers runs BCCI. Neither do the game's administrators, who happen to be businessmen and traders, have sufficient expertise nor genuine interest in the development and promotion of cricket in this country. The office-bearers of the BCCI are given honorary positions, and are therefore not accountable to anyone. More people who understand and care for the game of cricket should be involved in the decision-making process.

..............

3. From the above facts, it is clear that the BCCI as well as the Member Associations, though they are supposed to be private societies / clubs / companies, receive enormous assistance / concessions from State / agencies of the State without which it would be impossible for them to function as such and generate the kind of revenue that they are generating. It is by virtue of such assistance from the State and its agencies that these organizations have been able to establish a monopoly over the playing of cricket in this country.

(i) Furthermore, it is only by virtue of this assistance / concession that most of the Member Associations affiliated to BCCI have large premises and cricket stadia which have been given on lease to them by the agencies of the State for very nominal cost. It is by virtue of having possession of such stadia that these bodies are able to stage national or international cricket matches which is not possible for any other organization or association to stage.

(ii) Apart from this, the BCCI has been given a tax exemption under Section 10 (23) of the Income Tax Act and it is as a result of this exemption, no income tax is being paid by BCCI though it has enormous net annual income and in fact has an accumulated balance of more than Rs.40 crores in its bank accounts.

It may be noted that this exemption under Section 10 (23) of the Income Tax Act is to be allowed only if "the Association or Institution applies its income or accumulates its application, wholly and exclusively to the objects for which it is established". As can be seen from an analysis of the accounts of BCCI and the other Associations given below, most of the income of BCCI and the Member Associations is not being applied for the objects for which the BCCI / Member Associations have been set up, namely the development and promotion of Cricket.

(iii) Apart from this, these Member Associations are also given exemptions from entertainment tax on tickets of cricket matches that they sponsor.

(iv) They are also given foreign exchange by the Government for travelling abroad for playing matches.

(v) In fact, the team selected by the BCCI is known as the Indian Cricket Team and recognised as such by the Indian Government.

Similarly, the team selected by the Member Associations is known as the State Cricket Team and recognised as such by the State and the Union Government.

(vi) Further, the State and its agencies provide security through the State police and other State security agencies for the matches being staged by these associations.

(vii) That apart from this, the matches staged by BCCI and the Member Associations have been telecast through the State controlled media i.e. Doordarshan and All India Radio.

(viii) In the past even State awards such as 'Arjun Award', 'Padam Shree' have been bestowed upon some of the cricketers who were recognized for their contribution to Cricket in India.

BCCI, unlike other sport federations for instance for hockey, football etc., is a highly profitable and cash rich organisation. An examination of the accounts of BCCI for the eight years 1982-83, 1983-84, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1993-1994, 1994-1995, 1997-1998 and 1998-99 is in fact quite revealing. Some of the highlights of the same are as follows:

(i) Since 1987 (the year of the hugely profitable Reliance Cup deliberately chosen so that the growth estimates of revenue etc. are very conservative estimates since they start from a high base), the annual growth rate of BCCI's profits has been about 59% percent per annum - from Rs. 5.06 lacs in 1987-88 to Rs. 8.37 crores in 1998-99.

(ii) Revenues appear to have increased at an average rate of about 28% per annum, while expenditures have shown a relatively sluggish growth of 21% per annum.

(iii) The BCCI has not shown step-motherly treatment towards administration; establishment expenses have grown at the rate of 26.5 percent per annum, and for 1998-99 amounted to about Rs. 1.27 crores. Even more important are committee meeting expenses, which have galloped ahead from Rs. 4.03 lacs in 1982-83 to more than Rs. 64.24 lacs today. Even if we assume one meeting a month, that is Rs. 5.35 lacs per meeting. And this excludes travelling expenses!

(iv) Travelling expenses have grown at the rate of about 40% per year for last 11 years.

(v) But what about the real expenses involved for the development and promotion of cricket? An indicator of the same can be had by having a look at the Coaching expenses. The expenses on coaching have increased in nominal terms from Rs. 5.51 lacs in 1983-84 to Rs. 17.89 lacs in 1998-99. In inflation adjusted terms, such expenses have declined enormously.

(vi) Coaching expenses were in fact less than 1.1 percent of revenue, and less than 2.2 percent of expenditure, in 1998-99.

(vii) On the other hand the example of South Africa is an eye opener. Though their revenue from Cricket is much less than BCCI, the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) spends annually about Rs. 4.2 crores (in rupee terms) on coaching, equipment, transport and facilities. They have also established a South African National Cricket Academy, which is organised and managed in a highly professional manner. It is this commitment to the development and promotion of cricket, which has led to their spectacular success at the International level. This is despite the fact that the number of persons playing cricket in South Africa would not even be 5% of the number in India. In contrast to about Rs. 4.2 crores spent annually by UCBSA on coaching, etc., coaching expenses of BCCI would not average to more than Rs. 15 lacs per annum. To put matters in perspective, it may be noted that BCCI spent Rs.65 lakhs for Committee meetings in 1998-99 and Rs.40 lakhs for travel in the same year.

That the Member Associations of the BCCI are organised as societies / clubs / companies and as has been highlighted earlier are dominated by Non-Cricketers. In fact, DDCA, one of the Member Associations of BCCI is functioning more as social club. The main activity of most of its members is to play cards, hold marriage receptions, consume cigarettes or liquor, etc., in the club. An examination of the DDCA accounts for the last about 10 years is quite revealing. Following are some of the highlights from DDCA accounts from 1989-90 to 1998-99 :

a) Revenues have grown at an annual rate of about 37% per year; whereas Expenditures have shown a sluggish growth of 19.7 percent per year.

b) The DDCA club records a sale of over Rs. 33 lacs on liquor in 1998-99, and Rs. 6.7 lacs on the sale of cigarettes, playing cards and soft drinks. Liquor sales alone in 1998-99 is nearly 5 times the total expenses on coaching and promotion of cricket expenses for the last 11 years.

c) Expenses on Promotion of Cricket: This category shows a cumulative expenditure of Rs. 4.4 lacs since 1989, and for four years, 1994-95 through 1997-1998, showed no expenditures at all. In 1998-99, the DDCA spent Rs. 20,000 to promote cricket!

d) Expenses for coaching by DDCA, like its parent company, the BCCI, are almost non-existent. In 1997-98, zero expenditures are reported, and in 1998-99, Rs. 20,700 were allocated.

e) There is one area where the DDCA is spending some money for cricket - purchase of cricket balls. This category has skyrocketed from zero expenditure in each of the years 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92, to Rs. 84,200 in 1992-93 to Rs. 256,400 in 1998-99.

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