BCCI not answerable under RTI, says CIC in major ruling on richest cricket body

The Central Information Commission has ruled that the Board of Control for Cricket in India is not a "public authority" under the Right to Information Act, news agency PTI reported on Monday. The ruling shields the world's richest cricket body from mandatory public disclosure obligations.

The ruling, delivered by Information Commissioner PR Ramesh, closes a legal and jurisdictional battle that has run since 2018, when then Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu declared the BCCI a public authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act and directed it to appoint Public Information Officers.

The BCCI challenged that order in the Madras High Court, which later sent the matter back to the Commission for fresh adjudication in light of Supreme Court judgments. 

According to NDTV, the order noted that the Board is a society registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act and was "neither established by or under the Constitution nor created by any law enacted by Parliament".

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The Commission also rejected arguments that the BCCI functions under deep government influence. It found "no deep or pervasive control" exercised by the government over the Board’s administration or internal functioning.

The ruling further stressed that the BCCI operates as a financially independent body that earns revenue through media rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales. 

In a significant observation, the Commission ruled that "tax exemptions or statutory concessions" available under law do not amount to "substantial financing" by the government under the RTI framework.

The Commission said that although the Supreme Court had previously pushed for greater transparency in cricket administration, including in the Cricket Association of Bihar case, it had not declared the BCCI a public authority under the RTI Act.