Dilip Vengsarkar faces ‘ineligibility’ heat

The former India cricketer’s involvement in the Cricket Improvement Committee of the MCA is being viewed as a case of ‘ineligibility’ for he has been an Office Bearer for over nine years in the past.

Vengsarkar served four two-year terms as the MCA vice president from 2002 to 2010, before losing the presidential election to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2011.

 

Former India captain, Dilip Vengsarkar, has now been dragged into the controversy, for taking charge as the chairman of the high-profile Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) at Mumbai Cricket Association.

Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association’s life-member, Sanjeev Gupta, has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Ombudsman, Justice (retired) D.K. Jain, complaining that Vengsarkar’s involvement in the CIC is a case of ineligibility.

In his formal complaint under the BCCI Constitution dated 21.08.18 Rule number – 41(1)(c) against Vengsarkar, Gupta has indicated that the Vengsarkar stands 'ineligible' for the role as he breaches the Rule 6 (5) (f) of the constitution, which says that a person shall be disqualified from being an Office Bearer, a member of the Governing Council or any Committee or a representative to the International Cricket Council or any similar organization if he or she, “has been an Office Bearer of the BCCI for a cumulative period of 9 years or of a State association for a cumulative period of 9 years”.

READ| Dilip Vengsarkar takes charge as CIC chief

Vengsarkar served four two-year terms as the MCA vice president from 2002 to 2010, before losing the presidential election to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2011.

After a four-year break, he came back in the MCA set-up as the vice-president, where he was also the chairman of the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) in 2015.

He, however, had resigned as MCA vice-president in 2017 following the Supreme Court’s verdict that barred him from continuing as per the Lodha Committee recommendations.

On Friday, Vengsarkar returned to an active role in MCA as the chairman of the high-profile CIC. Neither Vengsarkar nor the MCA officials were available for comments.

A couple of weeks ago, Gupta had complained to the BCCI Ombudsman, who is also the Ethics Officer, against Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman for conflict of interest. The Ombudsman had sought versions from all three and had even met Ganguly to know about his involvement with the IPL franchise, Delhi Capitals.

A BCCI official, however, claimed that there needs to be a clear-cut way to identify the cases of conflict of interest. “Every day, there are complaints but we need to be clear about which are the issues that fall under conflict, and which are the issues which don’t. Now, with a retired judge as the Ombudsman, hopefully, things will fall in place,” the official said.