Big decision of CIC, told BCCI out of the scope of RTI

New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has given an important decision on Monday (18 May 2026). The Commission made it clear that the Board of Control for Cricket in India i.e. BCCI is not a public institution under the Right to Information Act 2005. CIC said that BCCI is neither run by the government, nor is it controlled by the government, nor does it receive any financial help from the government.

What does the Information Commissioner’s order say?   

According to media reports, Information Commissioner PR Ramesh said in his order that BCCI is a private organization. It is registered under the Tamil Nadu Society Registration Act. Therefore, it does not fall within the definition of public institution given in Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. For this reason RTI is not applicable on BCCI. The Commission also said that in the present case BCCI is beyond the jurisdiction of the Commission.

The dispute was going on since 2018   

Actually, this matter was embroiled in a legal battle since 2018. The then Information Commissioner M Sridhar Archayalu had considered BCCI under the ambit of the RTI Act. He had also directed the board to appoint a Public Information Officer.

BCCI challenged this decision in Madras High Court. In view of the old decisions of the Supreme Court, the High Court had sent the case back to CIC. The court had said that the Commission should look at the entire matter afresh and then issue an order.

The commission examined every aspect  

In the new order, CIC made it clear that BCCI does not fulfill the constitutional requirements of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act 2005. According to the order, BCCI has been formed neither under the Constitution nor by any law of the Parliament or any state assembly. The Commission conducted an in-depth investigation of BCCI’s functioning, financial structure and its relationship with the government.

Government has no control   

It is noteworthy that on the question of government control, CIC said that the government has no deep or comprehensive control over BCCI. The Board is completely financially independent. BCCI earns its income from media rights, sponsorship, broadcasting deals and ticket sales.

He does not receive any funds from the government. On this basis, the Commission considered that BCCI cannot be called a public institution. After this decision, the way for seeking information under RTI on BCCI has been closed.