The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has extended the contract of its ombudsman and ethics officer, Justice (retired) D. K. Jain, by a year.
Jain, who was appointed as the first-ever ombudsman of the Board -- and was later given the additional role of the ethics officer -- completed his term in February this year. The BCCI formally extended his contract last week.
Jain, who is based in New Delhi, told Sportstar on Tuesday that he will conduct hearings virtually for the time being. “The Board communicated with me (about an extension) and I have given my consent. I have formally resumed office for another term, which is of one year,” Jain said. “For now, all the hearings will be done online and once things improve, we will decide.”
RELATED|
There are still some pending cases which Jain needs to resolve. A verdict is awaited on the conflict of interest accusations against former liaison officer of the Indian cricket team, Mayank Parikh. There were allegations that Parikh ran six clubs in Mumbai.
While there have been hearings in the past, there hasn’t been a verdict yet. Jain, however, stated that he will take a stock of things soon. “For two months, there was nobody (as the ethics officer), so I need to look at where things stand. I will go through the details and see where things stand,” he said.
After Jain’s term ended February, there were speculations that the Board could look beyond him. But during the lockdown, the BCCI apex council members had a virtual meeting, where it was decided that the Board officials will talk to Jain once the lockdown was eased and then decide on the future course of action. A few weeks ago, the Board officially communicated with Jain and convinced him to continue for another term.
RELATED|
In 2019, soon after taking charge, Jain handled the ‘Koffee with Karan’ controversy, involving KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya. The two players were called back from the tour of Australia for their inappropriate comments during a talk show. They were also handed suspensions.
Jain also handled conflict of interest cases against Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Board president Sourav Ganguly -- who were part of the Cricket Advisory Committee back then. However, all the three of them were cleared of their charges.
There were also conflict cases filed against Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad, Shantha Rangaswamy. Even former India captain Rahul Dravid was called for hearing following conflict of interest charges after he took charge as the director of National Cricket Academy.
Comments
SHARE