The Central Information Commission has ruled that the BCCI is not a public authority under the RTI Act.
This means that one of the richest and powerful sporting bodies in the world will remain outside the scope of transparency laws that apply to government institutions.
๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒโ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ:
- In 2018, the CIC had ruled that the BCCI should fall under the RTI Act and even asked it to create an RTI mechanism.
- The BCCI challenged that order before the Madras High Court.
- In 2025, the High Court asked the CIC to reconsider the matter.
- Now, the CIC has reversed its earlier stand and ruled in favour of the BCCI.
๐ช๐ต๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฅ๐ง๐?
- The BCCI is a private society registered under Tamil Nadu law.
- It was not created by Parliament or a state legislature.
- The government does not appoint its officials or run its day-to-day affairs.
- Tax exemptions alone do not amount to โsubstantial government financingโ under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
- The Commission also relied on multiple Supreme Court judgments such as Zee Telefilms v Union of India and Dalco Engineering v Satish Prabhakar Padhye
๐๐ป ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐
- A lot of people often cite the 2016 BCCI v Cricket Association of Bihar judgment while arguing for greater transparency in cricket administration.
- But the CIC clarified that the Supreme Court had pushed for governance reforms but it never declared the BCCI a public authority under the RTI Act.
- What makes this even more interesting is the scale of the BCCI itself.
- Its revenues from IPL media rights, broadcasting deals, sponsorships and ICC distributions run into tens of thousands of crores.
- CIC said that this money comes from market-driven commercial activities and not from government funding and therefore the RTI framework does not automatically apply.
๐ข๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด
- One line from the order stood out to me: โFairness is not an inevitable byproduct of control.โ
- The CIC essentially said that imposing government-style oversight on a commercially driven body like the Board of Control for Cricket in India may not necessarily create better governance.
-ย But it also raises an important question: When a private entity holds enormous public influence, should transparency standards evolve beyond the traditional definition of a โpublic authority?