Now Kapil Dev and his CAC colleagues get conflict notices

The three former players were part of an ad-hoc Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which was tasked with appointing the head coach of the men’s cricket team.

Kapil and Rangaswamy are directors at the newly-formed Indian Cricketers’ Association (ICA), an association for ex-cricketers funded by the BCCI. (File)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) ethics officer DK Jain has issued notices to three former Indian players Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy with regard to conflict of interest charges made by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) life member Sanjeev Gupta.

The three former players were part of an ad-hoc Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which was tasked with appointing the head coach of the men’s cricket team. The CAC picked Ravi Shastri — whose term had expired but had applied again — as coach for the next two years.

In a notice, Jain has asked the trio to submit their response by October 10. Jain sent the notices after Gupta’s allegations that Kapil, Gaekwad and Rangaswamy violated the BCCI constitution norms, which state that no individual can hold more than one post at a time.

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“You may file your written response to the accompanying Complaint, supported by duly executed affidavit, on or before October 10, 2019, with the Office of the Ethics Officer, BCCI, Mumbai for further proceedings in the matter,” notice reads.

Kapil and Rangaswamy are directors at the newly-formed Indian Cricketers’ Association (ICA), an association for ex-cricketers funded by the BCCI. Gaekwad is part of the BCCI’s member affiliation committee. Also, Kapil’s company, Dev Musco, supplies floodlights to some Indian venues used for international cricket.

The Kapil Dev-headed ad-hoc CAC was cleared by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) to pick the next head coach of the Indian cricket team. The ad-hoc CAC gave ‘no conflict’ declaration that was okayed by the CoA. CoA chief Vinod Rai had clarified that the matter didn’t go to the BCCI’s ombudsman-cum-ethics officer.

“The matter hasn’t gone to the ethics officer. First, the CoA has to declare whether there’s conflict or no conflict. They will do whatever they have to do (appoint the head coach). In case, anybody has a grievance, he/she can go to the ethics officer,” CoA chief Vinod Rai had told this paper.

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However, one member of COA, Diana Edulji had raised an objection. “The issue was whether there was any conflict of interest. We examined it and we found that there was no conflict of interest. Kapil Dev’s company is totally independent. That has nothing to do with the BCCI. With regards to the ICA, they were only in the working group to set it up. Now that it has been set up, we have converted them to directors so that they can register the association,” Rai explained.