Bihar, which lost its place in the BCCI set up after Jharkhand was carved out of it, will have a representation in the Board with the Supreme Court accepting the recommendations of Lodha committee of having one state one association. However, before getting a permanent membership, three cricket bodies — Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), Bihar Cricket Association and Association of Bihar Cricket (ABC) — have to sort out their differences.
When BCCI opposed the recommendations of the Lodha committee, CAB was first to approach the apex court for implementation of the measures suggested by the committee. Later, former cricketers Bishan Singh Bedi and Kirti Azad joined in his support along with Union territory association of Chandigarh for the implementation of the Lodha panel’s recommendations which also stated that Bihar and two new states,Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, and six north-eastern states — Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim Arunachal Pradesh Mizoram and Nagaland, were unrepresented on the Board.
Justice lodha panel said, “Of course, the most significant omission was Bihar, which, being the third most populous State in the nation required the cricket representatives of its 100 million populace to migrate to other States to ply their trade. Apart from Tripura, the other six sister-States of the north-east had been relegated to various categories of membership (Associate, Affiliate and Future) which really have no voice on the Board.”