1st LD Writethru: Indian Supreme Court sacks country's powerful cricket board boss

The Indian Supreme Court on Monday sacked the country's powerful cricket board boss Anurag Thakur and his deputy Ajay Shirke as recommended by a committee formed two years ago to clean up the sports body.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, said that all recommendations of the Lodha Committee must be implemented, which means that all cricket administrators above 70 years old will have to quit the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

According to the court ruling, an observer for the BCCI will be appointed in two weeks. Till then, the two senior vice presidents of the sports body will run the board's daily affairs.

The court did not stop there. It also issued a contempt notice to BCCI President Thakur, who is also a lawmaker of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, for allegedly making a false statement involving the International Cricket Council.

The landmark judgment came after months of a bitter legal tussle between the country's top court and the BCCI, the world's richest sports body.

The BCCI had been reluctant to implement the Lodha Committee's recommendations despite several reminders by the Supreme Court in its earlier hearings.

Former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha, who headed the Lodha Committee that was set up by the Supreme Court in January 2015, has welcomed the order, saying that "I am sure the game of cricket will be governed as well as ever."

"The Supreme Court order should work as a template for other sports organizations too," he told the media.

Both the sacked BCCI boss and his deputy have not yet reacted to the Supreme Court's order. Endit