NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s ombudsman-cum ethics officer Justice (retd.) DK Jain has served notice to former Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman over conflict of interest for having roles in Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises while on the still existing cricket advisory committee (CAC) of the BCCI.
Tendulkar is the mentor of Mumbai Indians and Laxman has a similar role in Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Justice Jain has asked both Tendulkar and Laxman to respond in a written format by April 28 and also asked BCCI to respond.
The complaint was filed by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCC) member Sanjeev Gupta.
In his email to Jain, Gupta had alleged that Tendulkar and Laxman breached Rule 38 of the BCCI Constitution.
“Nobody can evade by blatantly violating the Lodha reforms/Honorable Supreme Court verdict and the BCCI Constitution Rule 38 on the plea of being ‘advisor’ and ‘honorary’. In Rule 38 (4), there are many posts which are honorary [but] that does not mean that those post holders can hold more than one post at a time on the plea of being ‘honorary’,” Gupta had written.
In the notice to the two cricket stalwarts, Jain wrote: “A complaint has been received by the ethics officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) under Article 39 of the Rules and Regulations of the BCCI, regarding certain acts, allegedly constituting as ‘conflict of interest’ on your part.
“You may file your written response to the accompanying complaint, supported by duly executed affidavit, on or before 28th April 2019, with the office of the Ethics Officer, BCCI, Mumbai, for further proceedings in the matter.”
Delhi Capitals advisor Sourav Ganguly had earlier been asked to submit his role in the IPL outfit by Jain for the same reason as he is the third member of the CAC. The CAC had last picked Ravi Shastri as the coach of the national team.
