On a day of dramatic developments, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) put a stop to a BCCI plan that might have led to a stand-off with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The Indian Board wanted to ascertain the views of its members on serving notice to the ICC. This was in response to the decisions taken at the ICC Board meeting in Dubai, where the world body, in effect, cast aside the Big Three model, thereby reducing India’s influence.
When the CoA came to know of the move on Tuesday, it reminded the BCCI of the Supreme Court order of January 2 that stated its authority to “supervise the management and administration of the BCCI”; the CoA further said that the BCCI can communicate to the ICC only with its prior approval.
A BCCI special general meeting had been convened in New Delhi on May 7 to consider the outcome of the ICC meetings. But on Tuesday, a conference call on important matters that may have culminated with India’s absence from all ICC events from 2017 to 2023.
But the BCCI arranged a conference call at 11 A M on Tuesday for some members to find out their opinion on the matter of serving a notice on the ICC to rectify the decisions taken on governance and revenue models immediately. The ICC Champions Trophy is set to start on June 1.
It’s understood that harsh words were said about the Vidarbha Cricket Assocication (VCA) at the conference call, and that its views should not count, but its representative, Anand Jaiswal’s (President, VCA) asserted that the VCA is a full member of the BCCI and its opinion on the particular matter should be noted. The BCCI’s acting President Khanna said: ``My daughter is in hospital. I cannot talk anything now.’’ A few members revealed that Khanna has not been taken into confidence by vested interests in the BCCI.
Another member who took part in the conference call said: ``Not many members joined the conference-call. And many who were part of the hurriedly arranged con-call did not give their opinion. Why should the BCCI do all this in a covert manner. A couple of them got disconnected mid-way. First of all, they did not even issue a notice specifying the agenda so that each member could have placed it before its committee,’’ said a member who took part in the con-call.
While former BCCI President and ICC Chairman, N. Srinivasan was part of the conference call on Tuesday morning, by evening, Anurag Thakur, removed by the Supreme Court as BCCI President because he was an impediment to the implementation of the Justice Lodha Reforms in Cricket report and against whom a perjury case is being heard in the Supreme Court, and his secretary were calling up members requesting them to give their approval to send a notice to the ICC on the MPA matter.
The note seeking the members approval read as follows: “Pursuant to the conference call and discussions, we recommend and approve the decision to send a notice to the IBC / ICC to cure the breach as per the terms of the Members Participation Agreement immediately.”
People in the know of late evening developments on Tuesday said that Saurashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda and Gujarat have already acceded to the request; a few of them refused to sign the dotted lines.
It would be interesting to see how the three government entities--Railways, Services and All India Universities, would respond to the note.
The CoA Chairman Vinod Rai is reported to have told the BCCI Jt. Secretary Amitabh Choudhary that he would like to see all 31 signatures (full members) for the BCCI to take a call on the MPA.
Comments
SHARE