For representational purposes (File Photo | PTI)
For representational purposes (File Photo | PTI)

Honorary status stalls work on CAC 

Honorary nature of the job has been a factor in the delay in the formation of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which will interview and select candidates for the posts of national selectors.

CHENNAI: Honorary nature of the job has been a factor in the delay in the formation of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which will interview and select candidates for the posts of national selectors. The deadline for filing applications got over on Friday and the BCCI is still to announce when the applicants will be interviewed.

The Indian cricket board had short-listed a few names, but things are still to materialise. The BCCI has found it difficult to finalise on anybody due to the conflict of interest clause, which rule out a lot of likely faces. In addition to that, the job being an unpaid one has meant that there are not too many interested in being part of this three-member panel.

“Since the CAC will meet just once a year, there is no pay associated with it. Those we think of have to agree with it. Since the job means choosing candidates for an important role, a lot of persons are reluctant to do it on an honorary basis. Unnecessarily who wants trouble? That is one of the reasons why this has got delayed,” officials following developments told this newspaper.

The concept of CAC was introduced by late BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2015. Its task was to select the India coach. Back then also, this was an honorary job. Under the new BCCI constitution, the CAC will select the coaches as well as selectors. There is still no provision of pay for the persons whose task it is to choose candidates for some highly-paid jobs.

Asked about the delay in forming the CAC, people in the know also spoke about the conflict problem. “We have to do a thorough check of the provisions under the new constitution to make sure that there is no violation of rules. We also have to make sure that persons we select don’t get affected adversely. For example, we can’t expect someone to quit another job just to become part of the CAC for a day.”

The CAC’s services were last required in August 2019, when Vikram Rathour was appointed batting coach of the men’s senior team while others were retained. Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy were part of a temporary CAC back then. Conflict of interest charges were levelled against the trio, who expressed unhappiness over the matter.

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The New Indian Express
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