JAIPUR: Is the Committee of Administrators, which, since being appointed by the Supreme Court to run the affairs of the BCCI in January 2017, can at best be given a D Minus for performance, about to wake up from its happy slumber?
Hardly likely, is the view of this website. But “some talk” perforce needs to be made, even if “no walk” is seriously envisaged. Close to a week after the BCCI delivered a farce of an IPL code of conduct violation fine on superstar MS Dhoni for his on-field shenanigans while captaining Chennai Superkings against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur, the CoA seems to be showing some stirrings of life, even if it is only for media consumption.
Could it be the ripple effect of the the Supreme Court reading the riot act to a “helpless and powerless” Election Commission on Monday, hours after which the poll body finally acted against hate speeches in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections and barred four top political leaders from campaigning for varying durations.
“It seems you have got the powers now …EC has woken up now,” Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi remarked while continuing hearings on a PIL related to hate speeches on Tuesday, the day after the EC pulled its proverbial whip out of the closet and cracked it.
Coming back to the CoA, Mumbai Mirror reports that the matter has been “brought to its notice”. Why a matter which relates to how the premier tournament run by the BCCI is administered needs “to been brought to its notice” is worth questioning. Be that as it may, all that a CoA member had to say to the tabloid when the subject was broached was this: “At this stage I will not comment on this.”
So which stage then? After IPL 2019 is done and dusted? If the BCCI has come out of this looking much the poorer in terms of its governance principles, the Vinod Rai-led CoA remains consistent in acting as per its D Minus report card rating.
More proof of the CoA’s absolute disregard for governance norms came to light Wednesday after IANS accessed a letter written by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri to the Supreme Court apppointed ombudsman DK Jain on the matter of the conflict of interest surrounding Sourav Ganguly as Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president and Delhi Capitals (DC) advisor.
Johri wrote to Jain asking him to allow the former India skipper to continue in his role if Ganguly makes ‘full disclosures’ of his interests, for his ‘vast knowledge’, should be allowed to continue.
This is a clear case of interfering in the functioning of the ombudsman, avers RM Lodha, the former Chief Justice of India based on whose recommendations the CoA was created in the first place.
Speaking to IANS, Lodha rued how Johri’s act is a clear example of people holding positions in the board trying to interfere in the transparent functioning of the BCCI.
“Very true (it is interference). Look those who are tasked to enforce the rules, if they themselves seek relaxations, God help them. What can I say? My whole idea is being spoilt. If they want to relax conflict of interest, this doesn’t happen actually and unfortunately it is a sad state of affairs,” he explained.
Echoing the sentiments, another BCCI official said while the panel had gone overboard in some cases and it looked as an attempt to keep individuals out rather than address situations. But all that doesn’t matter as the order of the Supreme Court is final.
“See, the whole Lodha Committee edifice was based on the perception of eradication of issues of conflict of interest. I think the Lodha Committee did go overboard in their articulation of what defines conflict of interest and the resolution of conflict. Certain illustrations seem as if an effort has been made to keep individuals out rather than to address situations of conflict. I also feel that they failed to take into account the ecosystem of a sport that was doing well.
“However, what I or for the other matter anyone else feels is immaterial. There is an order of the Supreme Court which must be followed. If such a letter has indeed gone out (from Johri to Jain), it is ill advised not just in terms of law but in terms of conflict (in violation of Lodha reforms) it may possibly be correct.
“The issue however is that practically we all knew how difficult these rules were and we knew that the real resolution of the conflict is in full disclosure to all the stakeholders and decision makers. We had raised the issue repeatedly but it had been ignored and we were marked as the ones resisting even by the CoA.
“We were told that we were doing it out of some self-interest but now if even the CEO has written a letter under the instructions of the CoA, it validates our long standing view,” the official pointed.
Another board official said that the mail vitiates the process. He feels this also needs examination if other issues have also seen such interferences.
“Whether a letter could have been written to the Ethics Officer is another story altogether. Writing to him vitiates the process as it has the effect of influencing the decision of the ethics officer. I wonder if they have expressed their opinions on other issues till date as well. I wonder if this was done at the time of MV Sridhar as well when he resigned under pressure,” he said.
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