BCCI members ‘target’ Johri, say he’s too costly
NEW DELHI: The Committee of Administrators (CoA)’s decision to reveal the astronomical amounts spent on BCCI officebearers has now opened a can of worms. Several top BCCI members are now questioning the worth of appointing an expensive Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Rahul Johri.
In its fifth status report to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the Vinod Rai-led CoA had listed the money spent on top BCCI officials, particularly acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, acting treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary and acting president CK Khanna. It has even urged the Supreme Court to banish these officials.
According to the statistics revealed to the Supreme Court, the BCCI has spent ~1.72 crore on Anirudh and ~1.56 crore on Amitabh. The CoA wants an immediate reduction on these expenses.
Senior acting BCCI officials have taken ‘offence’ to the CoA’s move to question their expenses.
“It is amusing that the facts were presented in a manner to show that the office-bearers are benefitting personally. If the money is being spent on air tickets, it is for BCCI work.
“What the report doesn’t mention is the money spent on Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer etc over one year which is outrageous as compared to that spent on officebearers,” said a BCCI member on condition of anonymity.
“Johri, who is on a salary of ~5 crore a year, has travelled abroad for 123 days and is entitled to $500-a-day in allowance,” said the member. Johri has recently received a 15% hike in wages.
About ~ 40-41 lakh has been spent on allowance (TA/DA) on Johri’s foreign trips while ~ 38 lakh have been spent on his DA and accommodation in India.
That apart, he is being given well over ~50 lakh in home rent allowance and the cost of air tickets on him come to about ~70 lakh.
Then there are hotel expenses for trips abroad. These perks total up to well over ~ 2.5 crore, said a BCCI source.
The CFO’s travel alone has cost Rs 40 lakh while the travel expense on MV Sridhar, the general manager, comes to ~70 lakh.
“All these figures are for one year whereas BCCI officials’ is for 2-3 years,” said the member.
Top BCCI officials have even criticised the way a recent meeting was held in Delhi.
The meeting was called by CoA head Vinod Rai earlier this month and all the top employees had to fly down to Delhi from Mumbai.
The additional expenses on a big chunk of senior officials that included the CEO, COO and the GM – was nothing short of “wasteful,” members countered.
It is amusing that the facts were presented in a manner to show that the officebearers are benefitting personally. If money is being spent on air tickets, it is for BCCI work
BCCI OFFICIAL, On status report