IPL has been ruined by BCCI’s mismanagement: Vinod Rai

Former Comptroller & Auditor General of India Vinod Rai played cricket in college, but let go of the game later in life. He, however, is an avid follower of all formats of the game, but in his own words, is disgusted by the goings-on in the body controlling the game, which is the BCCI.
The IPL is a great concept, he says, but the greed of people in control is ruining the game. His only question is why bosses at BCCI are afraid of subjecting themselves to public scrutiny, why BCCI’s records should not be available through RTI. The man who made government departments uncomfortable with his fiery audit reports talks to ET’s Ravi Teja Sharma about how the mess can be cleaned up. Edited excerpts:

Where do you think Indian sports, particularly cricket, has gone wrong?

It’s the commercialisation of the whole thing: power, money, those are the things that get together and unfortunately ruin sports bodies. Sports bodies being in the control of people who are totally unconnected to sports is very unfair. It should be left to people who play the game or understand the game at the least.

Unfortunately, sports bodies have become the refuge of people who are in search of lucrative posts. Money leads to power and power leads to money, becoming a vicious circle, and the same group of people control it all. Otherwise, there’s no reason why certain people dominate a certain association for the last 15 or 20 years.

Do you think excessive commercialisation is hurting IPL?

It is a trend which is not healthy. The moment you make it commercial, money interests come in and the dividing line between what’s good and what’s not gets blurred. Money power controls everything eventually. By commercialisation, I mean professionals should be there and be paid but the control of these bodies should not be commercial.

There’s no reason why all these bodies should not be available to public scrutiny, which means publishing their balance sheets, replying to RTI queries. Anybody who purports to be part of such bodies should be willing to subject himself to public scrutiny. Ultimately it’s not a private body, it doesn’t belong to a family. And even if it is a private body, why not declare your balance sheet, why not give out details.

If they are thrown open to public scrutiny, healthier trends will necessarily emanate and people who are seeking to control them will realize that they have to be acting with probity and that they sit in a glass house where all their actions are available for others to see. Then you will find that all of them are scampering for cover and things will kind of tumble out. IPL is a great property but it’s been ruined by mismanagement by the BCCI.

But IPL has also helped Indian cricket......

The structure of IPL is an absolutely great concept — there’s no denying that. It has thrown up raw cricketing talent in the country at the national level. It has made it viable for players also. Earlier, we used to rely on services, railways, Nirlon — you remember Gavaskar used to play for Nirlon — to support players. Today, the players are able to support themselves. So as a structure, as a concept, it is absolutely wonderful.

So, what has gone wrong with IPL?

What’s gone wrong is the greed of people in control to be deriving personal benefit out of it. There is no reason why the accounts of IPL or the accounts of BCCI should not be available for public scrutiny. If I were seeking to be heading BCCI, what do I have to hide?

In a private company, you have a set of auditors, you have a board, you publish the quarterly results also and you have an AGM where people can get up and ask questions. Here (in BCCI/IPL), you cannot ask questions and if you do, you are hounded out. The worst part is that there is only a certain group of people who keep controlling it.

Somebody will be a treasurer, somebody is a secretary, the coaches, the directors, and all will be in this same group. The genesis of the mess is because you are not open to scrutiny.

What do you suggest can be done to fix the IPL?

I would have been looking for the solution from the Supreme Court or somebody else to take credible people who follow the game, totally unconnected with BCCI or the management of the game today.

For example, Justice Mudgal or acommittee headed by Justice Lodha take control of BCCI and make available all the accounts and other things for public scrutiny. Then it sets what I would call a T-0 or a zero point. In politics, if you have a mess, President’s Rule is imposed, which gives time for the administration to set things right, and in due course, elections are ordered and conducted.

That’s exactly what should be happening here as well. For about a year, SC should entrust this entire thing to followers of cricket, but totally unconnected to the game as of today.