CHENNAI: Admitting that there has been no revision of the fees of the umpires and referees for nearly a decade, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia on Friday said that board has decided to enhance their pay substantially. He also informed that the BCCI is introducing a promotion-relegation system based on merit.
"For almost 10 years from 2017-18, there was no revision of the fees of the umpires so we have done a restructuring of their categories," Saikia told reporters after the BCCI's Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on Friday. "Earlier there were four categories, A+, A, B and C. Now we have restructured it as A, B, C and D. All their fees per-day has been enhanced substantially. As match referee is concerned, we have also upgraded their fees and revised their fee structure," he added.
Currently for senior domestic tournaments, umpires in top two grades get Rs 40,000 and Rs 30,000 per day respectively while for T20 games, the amount is Rs 20,000. But the revised payments will be Rs 60,000, Rs 50,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 35,000 per day as per grades A, B, C and D.
Speaking on the new system based on merit, Saikia said "All their postings will be done as per their merits. We have an assessing team under the umpires board. They will assess the umpires. According to their merit, they will be given the assignments. At the end of every season, there will be a system like relegation and upgradation. Those who will be doing good, (say) 10 umpires will be upgraded to the next level. Those umpires who are at the upper level, if they are not performing up to the satisfactory level, they will be downgraded." "So this will make them very alert throughout the season and that will ultimately help the game of cricket, because some players' future depends on the decision of the umpires, so they have to be very competent and very alert."