MCA to hear clubs’ concerns on Lodha report next month

MCA president Sharad Pawar is understood to have decided to hear all the clubs out after meeting a select group of senior and influential members.

MCA President Sharad Pawar.

Despite avoiding even a mention of the Justice Lodha’s report recommending an administrative overhaul of Indian cricket during its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday, the Mumbai Cricket Association is likely to convene a meeting of all its member representatives next month to discuss the MCA’s future course of action.

MCA president Sharad Pawar is understood to have decided to hear all the clubs out after meeting a select group of senior and influential members, including vice-president Ashish Shelar, managing committee member Vinod Deshpande and former managing committee member Shripad Halbe.

An MCA insider revealed to The Hindu that the policy change has been caused to avoid giving an impression to the members that the managing committee doesn’t pay heed to the members’ opinions. A week before the AGM, Halbe had proposed a resolution to support the Lodha panel report. However, the managing committee had declined the request to discuss it in the AGM.

Though Pawar is willing to hear out all the members, the meeting will most likely be an informal gathering since none of the MCA heavyweights would prefer to convene a general body meeting. If a formal meeting is called, the minutes will have to be registered and circulated among members following the AGM’s major decision.

Minutes to be made public

Meanwhile, taking a cue from the Vidarbha Cricket Association, the MCA AGM decided to start making public the minutes of all the managing committee and general body meetings. The decision was taken keeping in mind the need for the association to be more transparent.

The MCA managing committee members have often been accused of not following rulebook to the tee. The fact that the minutes will now be circulated amongst members and published on its website will put a check on the practice.

As the first step, the MCA’s annual report was uploaded on its website ahead of Monday’s general body meeting. However, the report has a blooper with the notice to the meeting specifying the date of the last AGM as December 26, 2014. After the notice was circulated, with Pawar being unwell, the AGM was postponed to January 25, 2015.