The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) for BCCI on Thursday (March 15) took away all functioning powers of three principal BCCI office bearers namely – CK Khanna (acting president), Amitabh Chaudhary (acting secretary) and Aniruddh Chaudhry (treasurer).
The Vindo Rai led CoA panel had sought their removal in the seventh Status Report filed in Supreme Court last week and now they have gone a step ahead by issuing the diktat to stop the office-bearers from taking any decision independently.
The two-member CoA comprising Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji, also stopped Board officials from using the BCCI funds to meet legal expenses in connection to the Lodha Panel related cases. Such is the situation for the office bearers now that they can’t even plan their travel and accommodation for various meetings without CoA's permission.
The 12-point diktat effectively takes away all the authorities from executive functionaries.
"The CoA is ready to throw the principles of governance out of the window. They want to take away the rights of the office bearers," a BCCI office-bearer quoted by PTI as saying.
When told that CoA is upset that they rebuked on players' contracts and certain appointments, he responded: "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 decree, 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."
Another instruction states: “The office bearers and/or their respective Executive Assistants shall not undertake any travel including but not limited to hotel accommodations at BCCI expense without the prior approval of the Committee of Administrators.”
It has come in the wake of claims that acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary is travelling 25 days a month, staying at five-star hotels and making the most of premium air tickets at the expense of the Board. Treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry is already discarded and doesn't take part in most of the meetings.
The CoA has directed that, "the acting Secretary shall continue to sign all contracts/ appointment letters on behalf of BCCI. However, if a contract/ appointment letter that has been approved by the CoA is not signed by the Acting Secretary within reasonable time not exceeding 5 working days, the CoA may direct the CEO to sign such contract/ appointment letter. Once a contract/ appointment letter has been signed by the CEO as per the directions of the Committee of Administrators, the same shall be binding on BCCI.”
A BCCI official stated that it has been done since acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary has disapproved to sign the Central Contract of Indian players and appointment of GM (Marketing) and the new ACU Chief.
In its 12-point diktat, the CoA has also mentioned that, "all information, correspondence, communications and discussions involving the Committee of Administrators and any employee/ consultant/ retainer/ service provider shall be kept confidential and shall not be disclosed to any person without the express written consent of the Committee of Administrators."
