Last week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to frame a code of conduct for the national selectors. That code — which will, among other things, prohibit selectors from commenting or writing on India’s performances — is yet to be enforced. So North Zone selector Kirti Azad’s presence on the experts’ panel of a national channel during this Videocon Cup tournament may not raise eyebrows.Or maybe it should. What Azad and the BCCI seem to have forgotten, however, is that such a rule already exists in the Board’s Memorandum of Rules and Regulations — so Azad is already in the wrong.Clause 32(A)(a) states: ‘‘No person who has been elected as Selector on the All India Selection Committee or All India Junior Selection Committee shall write, comment or give interviews to media or to anybody else for purpose of publication, broadcast or telecast. A selector acting in violation of these restrictions shall be removed by the President and the vacancy caused filled up in accordance with the Rules.’’The former all-rounder, amember of the last Lok Sabha, had done a similar job during the Asia Cup as well. And, at its Working Committee meeting in Kolkata last Monday, the BCCI had decided to enforce a ‘strict code’, under which the selectors are prohibited from commenting or writing when India plays. When asked for the BCCI’s stand on Azad providing commentary, it was this code — not the existing law — that Board secretary SK Nair quoted to this reporter. ‘‘The code has not yet been notified to the selectors and will have to wait for approval at the BCCI’s Annual General Meeting next month’’, Nair said.When told about the existing rule, Nair said: ‘‘It has not yet been used seriously’’.Will there been any action against Azad? ‘‘We (BCCI) have orally told the selectors during the last selection committee meeting that they should not go overboard about their views. If there is any breach, it will taken up at an appropriate forum.’’When contacted, Azad said he was not doing anything wrong. ‘‘I am commenting only as a cricketer and not as a selector. Have you seen me commenting on the merits and demerits of selection?’’
