BENGALURU: BCCI’s special general meeting (SGM) on June 22 will involve a comprehensive discussion on CoA’s proposal of a steep pay hike to cricketers and the introduction of aA+ category in the list of central contracts for the year amongst other issues, The Indian Express reports.
The Vinod Rai-led CoA announced that as per the new pay structure, 5 ‘A+’ category players get Rs 70 million each per annum, while 7 Grade A, Grade B and Grade C playerswill receive Rs 50 million, Rs 30 million and Rs 10 million each respectively.
“Why did they (CoA) bring in a new category? The idea was to compensate the Test specialists, who don’t have the IPL contracts, adequately. And if the top bracket is exclusively for those who are regulars in all three formats, then what would be the adjustments like, if someone is dropped from a particular form of the game? Also, the BCCI office-bearers had been kept in the dark in the whole process,” a BCCI official told the daily.
Having been at loggerheads with the CoA over several issues in the past, the BCCI is unhappy with umpires earning more than players in domestic cricket, as the committee increased their pay from Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 per day without consulting the board.
The appointments of BCCI’s new general manager (Marketing) Priya Gupta and the new anti-corruption (ACU) head Ajit Singh will also be coming under the scanner in the SGM. Ajit Singh, the former director general of police, Rajasthan replaced Neeraj Kumar for the ACU top position in March. Yet his employment is still to receive the members’ rubber stamp and hasn’t been ratified by the board.
“There’s every chance that the members might not agree to the appointment of the new ACU head. The CoA can’t take such a decision without calling an SGM.”, the official asserted.
BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary echoed this sentiment in his letter to the CoA, also refusing to sign the annual contracts in protest of office-bearers not being made aware or allowed to participate in decision making.
“I am afraid this appointment will not be considered valid until approved by the general body,” he had written.
