Rai evasive on conflict of interest
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It was a direction of the court that CAC, as is constituted, in the interim period will continue till elections are held. For appointing selectors... (if) they had their own issues, it is their problem.
VINOD RAI, CoA chief
NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s newly-registered constitution marked a milestone in the Supreme Courtappointed Committee of Administrators’ journey. But the selective implementation of the modified rule book has not helped in addressing some key issues especially, conflict of interest.
Till Monday, no state body had complied with the new constitution. Registered in Chennai on August 21, affiliated units have until September 20 to accept the Memorandum of Association and rules and regulations.
On August 23, the CoA quoted portions of a Supreme Court order to make the BCCI’s acting office-bearers – president, secretary and treasurer – totally powerless.
The Vinod Rai-led CoA, said, “except for the Cricket Advisory Committee and the duly reconstituted selection committees, all committees/ sub-committees under the Old Constitution stand dissolved with immediate effect. In the event any urgent decision that cannot await the appointment of new committees/ subcommittees in terms of the New Constitution is required to be taken, the same may either be taken by the Committee of Administrators or the Committee of Administrators may constitute an ad-hoc committee comprising of persons who meet the relevant criteria stipulated in the New Constitution to assist the Committee of Administrators in taking such urgent decision.”
There are some glaring discrepancies in implementing the constitution.
Keeping the strict clauses on age, tenure and conflict of interest in mind, Ratnakar Shetty’s presence in interim committees overseeing Hyderabad and Uttarkhand has raised questions. Despite several extensions, Shetty finally retired this June-end as BCCI’s GM - game development, for crossing the age of 60. Shetty served Mumbai Cricket Association in several capacities since 1996 till 2012 and according to the Supreme Court order, has completed his nine years as an administrator.
Similarly, the men comprising the powerful Cricket Advisory Committee – exists in theory though – are ineligible if the conflict of interest rules are enforced. Conflict of interest has been one of the most contentious issues in BCCI administration. In fact, in the new constitution, conflict of interest has been categorised under ‘direct or indirect interest’, ‘roles compromised,’ ‘commercial conflicts’, ‘prior relationship’ and ‘position of influence’.
“It was a direction of the court that the CAC, as is constituted presently, in the interim period will continue till the elections are held. The CAC was appointed by the AGM. For appointing the selectors, the CAC, as exists today, should be consulted till a new CAC is formed. We have no option in the matter. The court has directed us to consult them,” said Rai in an interaction on Monday.
Recently, according to a report, Tendulkar recused himself from picking a junior national selector as his own son, Arjun, is playing in the U-19 team. Question marks have also been raised over the presence of Ganguly, who is Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, and Laxman, who is a commentator and a batting mentor in CAB’s Twenty20 programme. “(If) they had their own issues, it’s their problem,” Rai said.
KUMBLE EXIT ‘NORMAL’
Rai added that former coach Anil Kumble’s exit, after much publicised spat with captain Virat Kohli was “not unceremonious.”
“Kumble had a one-year contract. When the CoA took over, we got to know a month later that his contract was expiring and we followed the protocol that was followed during his appointment.
“The idea was to select the head coach by the CAC. The CAC did what they felt was best. It wasn’t an unceremonious exit as his contract was only for a year,” he said.