It has been more than a year since the Supreme Court–appointed Justice RM Lodha Committee was set up to clean up the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after its highly popular T-20 league was hit by spot-fixing allegations.

In the course of the last one year, while there has been much back and forth between the panel and the BCCI, nothing substantial has happened by way of actual reform. Ironically, while the BCCI is the world’s richest cricket body, it is also notorious for its opaque functioning and lack of accountability.

On Tuesday, the BCCI made a startling declaration: it doesn’t have enough money to finish the ongoing series between India and New Zealand. India has already sealed the Test series by winning the first two matches. The third Test and a five-match One Day International series are left.

The Board was reacting to an email sent by the panel that asked BCCI and its banking partner, Yes Bank, to “not to take any steps towards financial disbursement of the amounts as resolved/approved after the direction dated 31.8.2016”.

Claiming BCCI was misinterpreting the communication, the Lodha panel said it had not asked the board to stop funds for “routine cricket matches”, but had only asked it to stop giving “large funds” to state associations.  Lodha told ANI, “We have not frozen any of the accounts.”

Despite the clarification, BCCI adopted a confrontationist attitude. Board president Anurag Thakur said, “I cannot say anything about India-New Zealand series. The BCCI is the richest board that hosts the IPL, but we have to deal with matters like this.” Former cricketer and now politician Kirti Azad took umbrage to the BCCI’s stance, saying that it was only issuing “empty threats”.

Here’s a recap of the BCCI-Lodha confrontations:

April, 2015: The committee sent an 82-point questionnaire to BCCI, about the board’s election process, the role of BCCI’s stakeholders, how its various committees were formed, conflict of interest, bringing the board under Right to Information (RTI) Act, and more.

January 4, 2016: The committee unveiled its recommendations, which included the one-state-one-vote system for the cricket body’s elections, and putting limits on tenure in office. It said that serving ministers and bureaucrats, or those above the age of 70 should not hold a position on the board, or on state associations.

January 7, 2016: The BCCI secretary sent an email to all state associations, asking them to study the report, figure out how they would be affected by the recommendations, and to submit their findings by January 31, 2016.

February 19, 2016: The board secretary filed an affidavit stating that there were “anomalies and difficulties” in implementing the Lodha panel’s recommendations.

February 22, 2016: Mumbai Cricket Association filed an application in the SC, highlighting “inconsistencies and difficulties” that made it difficult to implement a number of the panel’s suggestions. This was read as a ploy by the BCCI to ask its powerful state associations to file applications against Lodha reforms.

March 2, 2016: The BCCI filed an affidavit in SC, detailing some recommendations it had implemented, and the ones it had reservations against. Key concerns were one-state-one-vote rule, age cap of 70 and restriction on advertisements during Tests and ODIs.

March 3, 2016: The SC said it would ask the panel to reconsider some of the suggestions, but made it clear that it was not particularly happy with the BCCI’s “reluctance” to accept the panel’s recommendations.

April 5, 2016: The court criticised the BCCI’s method of disbursing funds to state associations, and said it was not asking what was being done with the money.

April 26, 2016: The court said that BCCI was running a “prohibitory regime”.

May 2, 2016: The court made it clear BCCI and all its state associations will have to implement the reforms recommended in response to an intervention plea filed by the Haryana Cricket Association objection to the panel’s suggestions.

July 18, 2016: The apex court accepted a majority of the panel’s suggestions, giving BCCI between four to six months to implement the proposals.  

August 3, 2016: The BCCI appointed a four-member panel of eminent judges, headed by retired Justice Markandey Katju to interact with the Lodha panel.

August 9, 2016: Katju recommended BCCI to not meet the Lodha panel, and instead file a review petition in the SC. He termed the Lodha panel “bogus”, and its recommendations “unconstitutional” and “illegal”. The Lodha panel gave BCCI time till October 15 to implement the proposals.

August 16, 2016: BCCI moved SC seeking a review of its July 18 verdict.

September 21, 2016: Defying the Lodha panel, the BCCI appointed a 5-member selection panel.

September 28, 2016: In its status report, Lodha panel said that reforms in Indian cricket were impossible unless the present leadership stepped down.

October 1, 2016: In an act of complete defiance, at its Special General Meeting, BCCI rejected key recommendations of the Lodha panel, most of which were expected to hit the current leadership of the board.

October 3, 2014: Lodha panel wrote to Indian banks asking them to not disburse funds from BCCI to state association with regard to two financial decisions taken at the board’s emergent working committee meeting on September 30.