The Mumbai Cricket Association’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday did not even see the mention of the much-debated Justice Lodha panel’s recommendations. However, in an endeavour to chalk out MCA’s roadmap on dealing with the delicate matter, President Sharad Pawar has called an informal meeting of MCA biggies and old-timers on Saturday.
MCA vice-president Ashish Shelar confirmed after the AGM that Pawar has “called an informal meeting” with a few members to discuss “various issues”. Strangely, perhaps for the first time in its history, the media was not allowed to enter the AGM enclosure.
Pawar, reportedly, had a quiet word with select MCA members before and after the meeting and he has asked five to six of them to meet him Saturday afternoon. Besides the office-bearers, Pawar is also understood to have invited Shripad Halbe, a former managing committee member who had moved a resolution to welcome the Lodha panel report and implement the recommendations pertaining to MCA.
Despite the MCA managing committee refusing to include Halbe’s resolution on the AGM agenda, it was Halbe who pointed out a technicality that barred the AGM to discuss any proposed resolutions. It is learnt that Halbe pointed out that MCA rules prescribe all resolutions to be tabled at the AGM to de circulated among members at least four days in advance whereas the managing committee had done so with only three days remaining. As a result, all the resolutions were deferred till the next general body meeting.
Referring to the conflict of interest issue, Shelar stressed “Nothing has been discussed in the AGM. As far as the transparency and accountability is concerned, the managing committee welcomes it. But as far as implementation of some of the other issues is concerned, we feel it is very difficult to implement. We will discuss it with our legal counsels and also with the Board,” he said.
Six clubs disaffiliated
After a prolonged follow-up by Prof Ratnakar Shetty, the AGM decided to disaffiliate six ordinary members (two office clubs and four schools/colleges clubs) and 13 associate members for being dormant for well over prescribed limit.
Besides, four office and two maidan clubs were relegated from ordinary to associate members.
Only the ordinary members are entitled to vote in MCA elections. A club can be acted upon if it fails to participate in any tournament for three years in succession or if the organisation closes down.
The AGM’s action would mean six new members can be admitted. However, the replacements will have to be from the same categories. The 329 members of MCA have been divided in three categories: maidan clubs (211), offices (81) and schools/ college (37).
Shelar added that the AGM has decided to constitute “a special investigation committee” to look into the cases of representatives of some of the closed institutions being awarded membership of MCA’s club houses at Bandra-Kurla Complex and Kandivali.
‘Shah Rukh asked for revocation’
Ravi Savant, the former treasurer and vice-president who lost the joint secretary’s election last year, is understood to have raised a query whether the last year’s decision to revoke suspension on Kolkata Knight Riders’ co-owner Shah Rukh Khan was based on his appeal.
“The president said yes, he had written to the MCA. But the president also told the MCA that after the revocation, Shah Rukh wrote a letter to MCA thanking them and also did so on Twitter for the public at large, so this issue needs to be put to an end,” Shelar said.
