Rahul Dravid, the former India captain, has been asked to depose in person by BCCI Ethics Officer D. K. Jain to explain the conflict of interest allegations against him.
Jain confirmed to PTI that Dravid will present his case on September 26 in Mumbai.
Dravid is currently the Director of National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. He is also serves as vice-president at India Cements, the corporation that owns the Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings.
“Natural justice demands that he be heard in person and that is why he has been called to depose,” a BCCI official told PTI .
Dravid was the head coach of the India A and U-19 teams before being handed the NCA role, which includes monitoring the progress of these two sides as well.
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The complaint against Dravid by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association life member Sanjeev Gupta points out a possible conflict of interest in Dravid's role as the NCA head alongside his position in India Cements.
Jain had asked Dravid to respond in writing, which he has already done. It has been learnt that Dravid has defended himself by saying he has taken leave of absence from India Cements and that he has nothing to do with the Super Kings.
Mayank Parikh to depose, too
As per the BCCI constitution, no individual can hold more than one post at the same time. BCCI employee Mayank Parikh, who too faces conflict of interest charges, will also depose on the same day. A part of the operations team in the BCCI, Parikh is also associated with multiple clubs, with voting rights, in the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
The notice sent to Dravid had not gone down too well with the likes of greats like Sourav Ganguly, who went to the extent of saying, "God help Indian cricket."
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“New fashion in indian cricket .....conflict of interest ....Best way to remain in news ...god help indian cricket ......Dravid Gets Conflict of Interest Notice from BCCI Ethics Officer,” Ganguly tweeted.
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, too, echoed Ganguly's view.
Extensive meeting
The notice sent to Dravid also led to an extensive meeting between former players and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) running Indian cricket.
The likes of former captain Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel and Rohan Gavaskar attended the meeting in person while Ganguly joined in via Skype .
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After the meeting, it was decided that a white paper will be prepared on conflict of interest and submitted to the Supreme Court. The CoA had conceded that it is facing problems in implementing the conflict of interest guidelines in the Lodha committee reforms.
“Till the time Supreme Court doesn’t decide on the matter, the existing conflict of interest rule in the constitution stands,” a BCCI official told PTI .
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