BCCI officials call for SGM, CoA steps in

CoA directive puts a serious question mark over the proposed SGM that has six items on the agenda.

On Sunday, a notice was forwarded to all the BCCI members “under the instructions of CK Khanna”, the senior-most vice-president, with joint-secretary Amitabh Choudhary as the under signee, informing that the Indian cricket board will have a Special General Meeting (SGM) in Delhi on April 9.

But fresh directives from the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) came close on its heels, over-riding the authority of Khanna, Amitabh and Anirudh Chaudhry (BCCI treasurer). The directives stated that the COA will continue to supervise the BCCI administration through its Chief Executive Officer (Rahul Johri) and the existing office-bearers “shall function subject to the supervision and control” of the COA.

The Supreme Court-appointed committee also clarified that chief executive officer and the chief financial officer will only report to the COA. The directive puts a serious question mark over the proposed SGM that has six items on the agenda: “1. To appoint the Board’s representative or representatives to the meeting of International Cricket Council and/or similar conferences. 2. To discuss and decide on the status of changes and in ICC Governance and Financial models. 3. To note the legal matters and decide issues thereof. 4. To discuss events after the 2nd January 2017 and to take action/appropriate decisions. 5. To discuss and appoint Ombudsman of the BCCI till the next Annual General Meeting under the Rules & Regulations of the Board. 6. To take note of reports from various committees.”

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Amitabh and Anirudh are expected to meet the COA in Mumbai on Monday and it’s very likely that the outcome of the meeting will decide the future course of action for the existing office bearers. “Objections would be dealt with,” a BCCI functionary told this paper. The CoA directives also stated that the CEO will continue to sign all affidavits and applications with respect to legal proceedings, while all BCCI payments must be jointly approved by the joint-secretary (Amitabh Choudhary) and the CEO. If the two disagree, the COA will take the final call.

On Friday, the Supreme Court made it clear that an office-bearer would have an 18-year cumulative period in cricket administration – nine years in the BCCI and another nine years in state. The order has made Khanna, Amitabh and Anirudh eligible, because they haven’t completed nine years in the cricket board.

Khanna and Amitabh are allowed to function as the acting BCCI president and secretary respectively subject to their affidavits of compliance to the apex court’s July 18, 2016 order, but on January 30, the court also mentioned that “the grant of the liberty to file does not mean that we have expressed any opinion on the undertaking or the validity thereof.”

NCA meeting

Meanwhile, Amitabh has also called the National Cricket Academy (NCA) meeting in Bangalore on March 28 and notice has been forwarded to its members, including the NCA director Dilip Vengsarkar. According to board members, the nine-year cap is not applicable to various committees and it is learnt that the two office-bearers will convey this to the COA during Monday’s meeting. Interestingly, the NCA is chaired by Niranjan Shah who is above 70 years of age and disqualified by the apex court’s July 18, 2016 order.

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