Column breaches code, stop writing, BCCI tells chairman Vengsarkar

The chairman of national selection committee, Dilip Vengsarkar, wouldn8217;t be allowed to express his views in newspaper columns in the future. After the BCCI bigwigs met here for the National Cricket Academy meeting yesterday, there were conflicting views on the issue but today the record was set straight.

The BCCI Chief Administrative Officer, Professor Ratnakar Shetty, said that Vengsarkar has been informed to stop writing for newspapers. 8220;Since he is in a position of responsibility, he shouldn8217;t be airing his views in print. Neither would there be any action against him, nor has the BCCI asked for an explanation on the columns he has already written. But he has been reminded of a code of conduct that the selectors have to follow,8221; he said.

Even yesterday, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah had mentioned the same, but later president Sharad Pawar was ambiguous on the issue. Vengsarkar, when contacted by The Indian Express, didn8217;t comment on the issue.

The former India skipper was in the spotlight for his views he expressed in a syndicate column that appeared in a national daily last week. With the column being marketed by a management company, that has among its clients several present-day Team India regulars, it was pointed out that this amounted to 8216;conflict of interest8217;.