With ‘deep sense of fear’ upset Ganguly attacks divided CoA
Sourav Ganguly has written a letter to BCCI’s acting office bearers on Tuesday saying India’s cricket administration is “in danger”. The former India captain, now the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, has attacked the Supreme Courtappointed Committee of Administrators for not being able to protect the image of the Board.
On Monday, the CoA identified Bengal as one of the 10 state associations that have only partially complied with the new BCCI constitution that was approved by the Supreme Court in an order passed by a bench led by former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on August 9, 2018.
CAB, like Jharkhand and Bihar, has two weeks to submit fresh compliance certificate. State associations failing to comply with the new constitution that has stringent rules on age and tenure of officials, stand to lose their voting rights and financial aid from the Board.
Ganguly’s email (in HT’s possession), that reflects his “deep sense of fear as to where Indian cricket administration is going,” is directed to acting president CK Khanna, secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, who have no executive powers. Interestingly, Haryana (Anirudh Chaudhry is from that state) is among the seven state bodies that have been identified as “neglecting” and “breaching” the Aug 9 Supreme Court order.
The former captain wrote, “the way things have gone in the last couple of years, the authority of Indian cricket to the world and the love and belief of millions of fans is on the way down.” The 46-year-old said allegations of sexual harassment against BCCI CEO Rahul Johri have only made the Board “look very poor.”
Ganguly pointed out that the two-member CoA is inadequate. Chairman Vinod Rai squashing CoA colleague Diana Edulji’s call to sack Johri only highlighted their differences.
For over a year, the CoA has operated with just Rai and Edulji as the principal decision makers. Originally supposed to be a fourmember committee, the Supreme Court allowed the CoA to operate with just two members with Johri as Board’s chief executive.
This has now been challenged in court.
The apex court, which on Tuesday was scheduled to hear a petition on the composition of the CoA, has now deferred the hearing to Thursday because amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium was indisposed.