CoA takes away functional powers of BCCI office bearers

Having already sought their removal in the seventh Status Report filed in Supreme Court last week, the CoA has gone a step further by issuing the diktat to stop the office-bearers from taking any decision unilaterally. It also stopped Board officials from using the BCCI funds to meet legal expenses in connection to the Lodha Panel related cases. The officials now cannot plan their travel and accommodation for various meetings without CoA’s permission. 

It has been learnt that sitting on central contracts of the Indian players irked CoA chief Vinod Rai as insurance policies of the Indian players was about to lapse. The matter became worse after secretary Amitabh questioned the manner in which CoA made certain appointments including that of a former Page 3 journalist and currently associated with a film production company as GM (Marketing) for a whopping salary of Rs 1.65 crore per annum. 

The 12-point diktat effectively takes away all the powers from executive functionaries. “The CoA is ready to throw the principles of governance out of window. They want to take away the rights of the office bearers,” said a BCCI office-bearer. 

When told that CoA is peeved that they sat on players’ contracts and certain appointments, he retorted: “Were we even kept in the loop when the contracts were being chalked out? You want people to sign it blindly when they don’t even know the terms of reference used for certain appointments. Where in Lodha Panel’s report was recommendation for GM (marketing)? Are we serious that we need to market Indian cricket?” 

In its diktat, the CoA has instructed: “Any employee/ retainer/ consultant of BCCI who receives a communication from any office bearer and finds that the same is not copied to the CEO and/or the Committee of Administrators, shall immediately forward the same to the CEO and/or the Committee of Administrators, as the case may be.”