The Supreme Court  has asked the Lodha Committee to appoint an independent auditor to scrutinise the grant of contracts by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the world’s richest cricket body.

The BCCI has until December 3 to implement the reforms suggested by the Justice RM Lodha panel. These reforms were made binding on the BCCI in a Supreme Court order on July 18 this year.Both BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke will have to be present before the Lodha panel by December 3.

The appointment of auditors is significant as the multi-million dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights are to be awarded for the next 10 years, starting 2018. Sony Pictures Networks Private Limited holds the current IPL media rights till 2017, which it won with a whopping USD 1.6 billion bid.

BCCI is expecting close to USD 4.5 billion from sale of these three rights – TV, internet and mobile. If achieved, it will be world record in the world of cricket.

Twitter, Facebook, STAR India Private Limited, Sony Pictures Networks Private Limited and Reliance Jio Digital Services Private Limited are the major names in fray for the media rights.

With the Supreme Court deciding to appoint an independent auditor for awarding BCCI contracts, the IPL media rights will no longer be given at the sole discretion of the BCCI. The Lodha panel-appointed auditors will scrutinise all high-value contracts.