Cricketers to be governed by BCCI conflict of interest rule

The players also have to declare the player management firm or person representing them to the Board and cannot sign an endorsement deal with a sponsor which is a competitor to the BCCI sponsor, including apparel.

BCCI President Shashank Manohar will put on his practising lawyer’s cap and try to push through all these reforms at its AGM that will affect quite a few past cricketers wearing multiple hats even as they are part of its affiliated units.

The BCCI is planning to bring strict conflict of interest rules for current cricketers too. The players will not be allowed to have business interest in the player management companies which represent them.

The proposed conflict of interest clause will be tabled at the 85th AGM of the BCCI here on Monday.

The players will also have to declare the player management firm or person representing them to the Board and cannot sign an endorsement deal with a sponsor which is a competitor to the BCCI sponsor, including apparel.

It has also been proposed that the current lot of players should not be on board in a controlling position of a commercial organisation that has signed a contract with the board or its affiliates.

Retired cricketers on BCCI’s payroll or contracted to the board should not be part of the ’s various committees of the BCCI, including the IPL Governing Council, as per another proposal on the same issue.

As per the clause, national coaches and selectors should not be associated with any private coaching academies or with player management companies or player agents, even in honorary capacity, or pen newspaper columns or be contracted with print or electronic media during their tenure.

Selectors should also not be a member of any managing committee of the BCCI’s affiliates.

Strict conflict of interest clause has also been proposed for administrators, in both BCCI and its affiliates.

BCCI President Shashank Manohar will put on his practising lawyer’s cap and try to push through all these reforms at its AGM that will affect quite a few past cricketers wearing multiple hats even as they are part of its affiliated units.

The AGM is also set to elect new senior, junior and women’s selection panels and the proposed stricter adherence to conflict of interest clause could lead to the removal of South Zone representative in the Sandeep Patil-led seniors panel — Roger Binny — as his son Stuart is an active player.

The general body is also set to constitute a new IPL Governing Council, an important sub committee, and provide a roadmap for the induction of two new teams in place of the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for seasons 9 and 10 of the T20 League.

But with another proposal to limit the number of persons in each sub committee to eight, the size of the IPL Governing Council, which is currently headed by Rajeev Shukla, is also expected to be cut down drastically.

If the proposal is cleared, the IPL GC would in future consist of five members of the Board, of which one will be the Chairman, three individuals of repute with expertise in finance/administration plus the BCCI’s office bearers as ex-officio members.

All decisions of IPL would have to be taken by a majority and in case of equality; the chairman can exercise his casting vote.

The GC would have a separate bank account for IPL to be maintained by the BCCI’s Treasurer, while also periodically submit a report, along with all decisions taken, to the succeeding meeting of the Board’s Working Committee for its approval.

As per another proposal , the chairman of a meeting, including AGM, will not have a vote as is the case at present.

He will have only a casting vote, to be exercised if needed.

Yet another proposal is that “for being eligible to contest for Vice President from a zone, the candidate should have represented a full member in at least two Annual General Meetings of the Board as the representative of such member.”

Currently, VPs can represent a zone to which the person does not belong.

Another proposed change is the auditing of the accounts of all its full members, associate and affiliate members by the BCCI’s independent auditor and all payments due to them would be released by the BCCI only after the receipt of the audit report by the independent auditor.

Also a 30-day deadline has been proposed to be set for all its members for submission of the statement of accounts, after the conclusion of their participation in various tournaments, to the BCCI.

Another proposed clause is that the National Cricket Academy Board shall consist of a chairman, one member of each zone and two retired cricketers with the BCCI secretary as its convener.

The committee would draw up a programme for coaching at NCA and zonal academies, appointment of coaches and support staff, approve NCA’s budget and its activities and coordinate the activities of zonal academies.

Another proposed change says that amendments to BCCI’s Rules and Regulations could be done only at a Special General Meeting and not at an AGM. As per the existing clause, the amendments can be taken up at SGM or AGM.

The AGM is also set to pass the accounts and secretary’s annual report, decide on the amount of annual subvention to the different affiliated associations as well as central contracts for senior cricketers.

With the BCCI coffers enriched by the extra income it has received after the disbandment of the Champions T20 League, each association is expected to get Rs 30 crore as subvention money from the parent body, it was learnt.

The procedure to appoint a new coach for the Indian team, with the post lying vacant after the departure of Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher, could also be taken up at the meeting.