The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday decided to constitute a working group to study the order of Justice RM Lodha committee on the IPL betting scandal and give its recommendations within six weeks.
The decision to form the group was taken at a crucial IPL governing council meeting in Mumbai as the board members discussed the implications of the Lodha committee verdict, suspending Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals from the Indian Premier League for two years.
The BCCI, however, did not reveal the names of the working group members. The board is expected to name the group members on Monday. It said that it will abide by the verdict in totality.
"BCCI respects the verdict of the Lodha Commission and will abide by their decisions, in toto. The members recognised that there is an urgent need to understand the impact of this decision and the wider ramifications for BCCI in detail, so as to uphold the paramountcy of the game in our country," the board said in a statement after the nearly hour-long meeting.
The IPL governing council authorised chairman Rajeev Shukla to constitute the working group "which will study this verdict, in consultation with all our key advisors and explore all the possible measures to be adopted, with an objective to protect the interests of all the stakeholders involved".
"This group will work within a time bound period of 6 weeks and report their recommendations to the IPL GC, which will deliberate and share their views with the working committee of the BCCI, for further action," the board said in its statement.
Rajeev Shukla said the members of the group would be finalised by Monday. The group's report will suggest how to "implement the order and way forward for IPL... how to conduct IPL, how many teams and all stakeholders CAC members, sponsors, broadcasters, state associations, legal experts that report will come to GC and it will go WC which will take decision" he said.
The Supreme Court appointed committee had on 14 July come down heavily on those involved in the 2013 IPL betting scandal and suspended two former champions--Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals--for a period of two years.
Along with the punishment for the two mega teams of the IPL, the bigwigs involved in betting in the IPL--Gurunath Meiyappan (CSK) and Raj Kundra (RR)--were suspended for life from taking part in any cricket-related activities affiliated with the BCCI.
