Dubai: The Supreme Court has inflicted a heavy blow on the Board of Cricket in India (BCCI) for not adhering to their orders by restricting all the activities of the board. Through an order that has shook the edifice of the richest cricket body in the world, the Supreme Court has limited BCCI’s financial freedom and power until the board and its state associations comply with the recommendations of the Lodha Committee.

The Lodha Committee, which was formed to clean up Indian cricket administration following the 2013 Indian Premier League spot-fixings scandal, had given a series of recommendations of which only a few were implemented but the rest were ignored by the BCCI officials. The BCCI even appealed against the recommendations which subsequently were turned down by the Supreme Court.

As per the new order, the Lodha Committee wants all recommendations to be implemented in two weeks. It also asked Anurag Thakur, the BCCI president and Secretary Ajay Shirke to meet the committee before November 3 with the next court hearing scheduled for December 5.

The court has made it very clear that the Lodha Committee recommendation to fix a limit on the value of contracts that the BCCI can enter into — and that all contracts above the limit should go through the committee. The broadcast rights for the IPL are to be finalised on October 25 and the court has asked the committee to appoint an independent auditor to scrutinise the BCCI’s accounts.

The BCCI is expecting to gain $4.5 billion from sale of TV, internet and mobile rights during the IPL. The BCCI’s stance for not implementing the Lodha Committee’s recommendations is that the majority of its state associations have not agreed to follow it. The recommendations which the states could not adhere to are one-state-one-vote policy, the age cap of 70 for administrators, and the limit of three, three-year terms with cooling-off periods in between for office bearers.

The court order may now hit the staging of several oncoming tournaments, including the IPL. As planning to all tournaments, the BCCI is required to enter into many financial agreements. Earlier, the BCCI had threatened to call off the ongoing series against New Zealand after the Lodha Panel had asked BCCI’s bankers to not allow the board to transfer large sums to state units.

Justice R.M Lodha, who heads the Lodha Committee, revealed that the committee is still ready for talks. “If he (Thakur) comes, we will definitely interact with him. As a matter of fact we had invited him on August 9 but he did not come,” he said.

Thakur, answering to a query as to whether the court order will have a huge impact on cricket, said: “What impact it will have on cricket, we cannot comment before going through the order. Once we get the copy of judgement we shall respond. There are difficulties which have been placed in front of the Court.”