CHENNAI: Things are getting messier by the day in the BCCI. Already in disarray in the absence of an elected top brass with question marks over the status of stand-in office-bearers, the board had an important finance committee meeting cancelled on Thursday due to confusion over authority. A day earlier, leaving out chairman Niranjan Shah from the list of invitees for a meeting of the NCA board had caused a stir.
To begin with, the status of these committees is unclear, since all financial steps have to be approved by the Committee of Administrators (CoA). Decisions taken by these committees involving payments are not enough.
They mean nothing unless the CoA clears them. Second, these committees were formed at the 2016 AGM, which has been termed null and void by the CoA.
BCCI members said the CoA has been approached for clarification, but there has been no reply.
“The CoA told us decisions taken in meetings have to be forwarded to them. They are quiet whether these decisions are final or not. If they are not, why should we waste time in these meetings?” said a member, adding that raise in domestic and women’s cricket was among talks that got stalled because of Thursday’s no-show.
The CoA’s recent decision that all financial matters will be handled by the CFO, who will report to the CEO, has added to the confusion. It bypasses the existing system involving the treasurer and secretary, which is not in sync with the BCCI’s constitution.
“It’s not part of the Lodha report either,” said the member. CoA’s Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji were unavailable for comment.
The CoA has not helped matters by not stating how these committees function. It has said that these bodies can’t take decisions, but did not dissolve them either. “Under what rule are these committees being governed? Can CoA dictate policy is another question,” said the member.
Shah, meanwhile, wrote to acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary that Friday’s meeting should be cancelled since he had not been invited and that members did not have time to prepare.
atreyo@newindianexpress.com