Our Bureau
New Delhi
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not a “public authority” under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The decision, delivered on Monday, means that the country’s richest cricket board does not have to answer questions under the transparency law and cannot be treated like a government body for information‑disclosure purposes.
The ruling came in response to an appeal seeking details about the provisions and authority under which the BCCI represents India and selects players for national and international tournaments. Information Commissioner P R Ramesh observed that the BCCI is a society registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act and is neither established by the Constitution nor created by any law enacted by Parliament. He added that the Board cannot be classified as a “public authority” under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act because it is not owned, controlled or substantially financed by the government.
The CIC also stressed that the BCCI operates as a self‑sustaining body, drawing its revenue mainly from media rights, sponsorships and ticket sales instead of regular government grants. It further clarified that general tax exemptions or statutory concessions available under law do not count as “substantial financing” for the purposes of the RTI Act. The Commission warned that superimposed government control over the BCCI could disrupt the fine‑balanced economic structure of Indian cricket and affect sporting autonomy. The order effectively overturns the CIC’s earlier 2018 view that the Board should be treated as a public authority under the RTI law.
