Amitabh Choudhary’s trip to UK curtailed by CoA to curb BCCI expenses

BCCI officials have been questioning decision making powers of CoA recently.

Amitabh Choudhary's UK trip has been cut short in Ireland itself | AFP

BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary was supposed to make an extended trip to the Ireland and England from June 26 to July 8, 2018, which involved attending the ICC meeting on June 28 onwards. However, in a bid to curb the expenses of the board, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has now decided to cut Choudhary’s trip short.

The decision was taken by CoA in its meeting on Monday (June 18) in Delhi.

ICC is paying for Choudhary’s to-and-fro air tickets and the BCCI's acting secretary has a Mumbai return ticket on July 8. Hence, the CoA saw it unnecessary for him to stay in the UK any longer, which included him watching India play England. Now he is only allowed to stay in Dublin till the end of the ICC meetings, sources told TOI.

India plays two T20 games against Ireland on June 27 and 29 and another three T20 matches in England between July 3 and 8, and Choudhary had asked to return after the England and India T20I series got over.

"ICC Annual Conference being scheduled for June 28-July 2, 2018 I am asking ICC to book me on 25th night from Mumbai and return on July 8 after the three T20 India-England games," Choudhary wrote to the top management of the BCCI.

Choudhary’s trip was cut short after discussions between CoA chairman Vinod Rai and member Diana Edulji. Choudhary, who is Bhutan along with a BCCI manager KVP Rao on official duties, has not responded so far. "His other board colleagues says that Amitabh spends 25 days on BCCI expenses and also voiced complaints about his constant globetrotting," a source said.

BCCI would have paid a hefty allowance to Choudhary which includes hotel stay, communication, and daily allowance, if he had been allowed to travel from June 25- July 8. Several board officials took a trip to England during the 2017 Champions Trophy and CoA had leniently agreed to it.

However, with BCCI officials constantly challenging the decision-making powers of Supreme Court appointed CoA; the committee has become strict and has made it mandatory for the board officials to specify their functional duties before giving tour approvals. Previously too, CoA had canceled Choudhary's Sri Lankan trip during the Nidahas Trophy due to lack of functional duties.

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 19 Jun, 2018

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