NEW DELHI: The BCCI Apex Council is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss various issues concerning the Board's operations, though the appointment of a new secretary to succeed the outgoing Jay Shah is not on the agenda.
This will be the last Apex Council meeting before the Board's 93rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Bengaluru, scheduled for five days later.
Jay Shah has been unanimously elected as the next ICC Chairman, creating the need for a new secretary. However, Shah will not step down from his role as BCCI Secretary during the upcoming AGM, as he is set to assume his new ICC position from 1 December.
Despite this, even a discussion regarding the process of nomination for a new secretary is absent from the eight items listed in the Apex Council's agenda. Key issues on the agenda include updates on the matter with Byju’s, the former title sponsor of the BCCI.
The BCCI is dealing with a payment settlement issue with the edtech company. Byju’s had ended its sponsorship deal with the Board in March last year. The Bengaluru-based firm, co-founded by Byju Raveendran, initially signed a jersey sponsorship deal in March 2019 for three years, which was extended by another year for a reported sum of $55 million. Payments were made until September 2022, but the controversy revolves around unpaid dues from October 2022 to March 2023.
Other agenda items include discussions on the inauguration of the state-of-the-art National Cricket Academy (NCA) on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Currently, the NCA operates from the M Chinnaswamy Stadium premises, where it has been based for over two decades.
Additionally, approval for commencing renovation work on the exteriors of the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai and progress on the North East development project are also expected to be discussed.