For a government that proudly proclaims “zero tolerance towards corruption,” the continued exceptional treatment being extended to the Board of Control for Cricket in India is becoming increasingly difficult to defend. The time has come for the Narendra Modi-led NDA government to stop hiding behind technicalities and bring Indian cricket’s richest empire fully under public scrutiny, taxation, and accountability.
The argument repeatedly advanced in favour of the BCCI is simple: it is not substantially financed by the government and therefore does not qualify as a “public authority” under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. Legally convenient? Perhaps. Morally convincing? Absolutely not.
The BCCI today is not a neighbourhood private club running weekend tournaments. It is a multi-thousand-crore commercial monopoly that controls the country’s most influential sport, enjoys massive indirect state patronage, uses public infrastructure, commands police protection, consumes government resources during tournaments, and shapes careers, reputations, and financial destinies of thousands of cricketers across India.
More importantly, the BCCI’s cash machine called the IPL has become one of the largest sporting businesses in the world. Media rights, sponsorships, advertisements, licensing, betting-linked ecosystems, ticketing, and franchise valuations generate staggering wealth every single season. Yet, despite operating on a scale larger than many listed corporations, cricket administration in India still behaves like a feudal kingdom answerable to none.
And that is precisely where the Modi government’s credibility is now at stake.
The newly adopted National Sports Policy 2025 — officially the Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 — was projected as a transformational roadmap to make India a global sporting powerhouse and prepare the country for the 2036 Olympics. The accompanying National Sports Governance framework promised transparency, athlete representation, ethical administration, dispute resolution, and structural reforms in sports governance.
Crucially, cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics has finally brought the BCCI within the broader national sports governance framework as a de facto National Sports Federation. In principle, this should have marked the end of the BCCI’s decades-long insulated existence.
But what did the government do? It inserted a convenient escape hatch.
Financial transparency remains largely untouched because the BCCI continues to enjoy protection under the “not substantially financed” argument. That loophole now threatens to destroy the very spirit of sports governance reform.
The question is straightforward: if the government can regulate private corporations, scrutinize NGOs, tax middle-class citizens relentlessly, monitor startups, and demand compliance from every commercial entity, why should Indian cricket remain an untouchable island?
Why should IPL ticket revenues running into crores enjoy exemptions and opaque treatment? Why should affiliated state associations function like private political estates? Why should ombudsmen, ethics officers, and committees become ornamental exercises while corruption allegations continue uninterrupted?
The ugly reality is that corruption within cricket administration is no longer limited to whispered allegations. It has become institutionalized.
The infamous Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scandal exposed how cricket funds allegedly became a playground for political dynasties while generations of talented cricketers from the region were denied proper opportunities. The case exposed not merely financial irregularities but the deep rot within cricket administration.
Judicial interventions were supposed to clean the system. The Lodha reforms were projected as a turning point. Ombudsmen and ethics officers were sold as mechanisms of accountability. Yet, in several state associations, including the scandal-ridden Hyderabad Cricket Association, allegations of corruption, nepotism, manipulation in selections, factional politics, misuse of funds, and administrative opacity continue to dominate headlines.
Worse, the judiciary itself increasingly risks appearing as part of the cricket establishment’s ecosystem rather than an external corrective mechanism. Retired judges occupying lucrative ombudsman roles while associations continue functioning under clouds of controversy hardly inspires public confidence.
This is where the Modi government must decide whether it genuinely wants reform or merely the appearance of reform.
No one is arguing that the government should take over cricket operations. That would be equally disastrous. But there is a vast difference between autonomy and absolute immunity.
The solution is simple and politically achievable if there is courage.
First, amend the legal framework to bring bodies exercising monopolistic control over nationally significant sports under RTI scrutiny irrespective of direct government funding. Public importance and commercial dominance should matter as much as taxpayer financing.
Second, withdraw extraordinary tax relaxations and ensure full taxation of all commercial cricket revenues, including IPL ticketing and associated earnings. If ordinary businesses must comply, cricket empires cannot claim royal privilege.
Third, enforce strict independent audits of all state associations under a centralized, transparent mechanism accessible to stakeholders and the public.
Fourth, make athlete welfare, transparent selection systems, and conflict-of-interest disclosures legally enforceable rather than symbolic recommendations.
The Modi government has repeatedly projected itself as a regime willing to take politically difficult decisions in the national interest. If that claim is genuine, then Indian cricket must no longer remain an exception protected by influence, money, and political convenience.
Because the longer this selective silence continues, the louder the suspicion will grow — that India’s most powerful cricket establishment remains beyond scrutiny not due to legal helplessness, but due to political unwillingness.
