Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
Sourav Ganguly led his first Annual General Meeting as BCCI President in Mumbai on Sunday, 1 December, and as expected, decided to overturn of a lot of the reforms made over the last seven years.
All the proposed amendments made during the 88th AGM, however, will still have to be approved by the Supreme Court.
“From the day all these amendments were implemented, there was a thought that some of them may not be easily applicable. As judgments come, you appeal, ask for clarification on where this leads too, and whether we can try and do it better for the proper administration of the board,” said Ganguly in a press conference after the meeting.
The most-talked about one however, has been the dilution of the tenure cap on the board’s office bearers that would result in the cooling-off period to kick-in only once an official has completed six years at the board and state association, separately. If approved, the reform will have to the pave the way for Ganguly to get an extension as the Indian cricket board’s chief till 2024.
“At the end of the day, it is the court that’ll decide.”Sourav Ganguly
“Just as normal citizens write to authorities to reconsider, we have written. And this process has been going on for four years – from day one we have brought to the notice of the court, respectfully, that certain things are difficult to implement and that certain things are required for better running of the administration,” he added.
The board named secretary Jay Shah as its representative for the ICC chief executives' committee meeting. "The Board is represented by Secretary at the ICC CEC, that's the ICC rule," Ganguly said.
However, the Board has not yet decided on its representative for the ICC Board meetings.
‘Can’t Make CAC Because of Conflict Clause’
The BCCI deferred the appointment of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) with Ganguly saying the controversial conflict of interest clause, which even the CoA found difficult to implement, is coming in the way. The chief said they will approach the apex court to get a clarification on the clause.
"Conflict clause stops everyone, that's why we can't make the CAC. That's why we can't bring proper selectors. Conflict should only be for someone like us (office bearers). Conflict stops us from getting good people. We are going back to the court to get clarification about conflict clause," Ganguly said.
“We don’t want to appoint a CAC and then it gets cancelled, like it has happened with us in the past two times with Kapil Dev and his team. So those clarifications are required.”
Ganguly also said a full-time CAC was not required since it has a limited role to perform, restricted to only one or two meetings.
"CAC doesn't have much work. We keep talking about CAC, but the job of CAC is appointment of selectors and coach. So, once you appoint a selection committee, it stays for four years and once you appoint a coach, it (he) stays for three years. So, where is the need of having a full-time CAC?" Ganguly said while addressing media after Board's AGM.
"So far it (CAC) is honorary, so even if you pay, you pay on what basis. There is no regular work. To have CAC with conflict of interest, I don't know whether it is the best thing. It is about only one meeting," Ganguly added.
‘MSK Prasad’s Tenure Finished’
Ganguly made it clear that there will be no extension for members of the selection committee including chief selector MSK Prasad, whose tenures have ended.
Going by the Board's old constitution that has a provision for a maximum four-year term for the selection panel, its chairman MSK Prasad and his colleague Gagan Khoda's terms have expired.
Prasad and Khoda were appointed in 2015, while Jatin Paranjpe, Sarandeep Singh and Devang Gandhi, who joined them in 2016, have one more year left in their respective tenures as per the old constitution.
The amended constitution, though, has a provision for a maximum five-year term.
"Tenures are finished (means) tenures are finished. They have done a good job. You cannot go beyond your tenure and all of them don't finish, so majority of them stay and I don’t think it should be a problem," Ganguly said.
Ganguly said they cannot appoint selectors every year.
"As you must have heard, ICC now wants tournaments every year, that does not mean selectors continue forever. We will have a tenure and we will (heed) to the tenure." Going by Ganguly's statements, the new selectors will have five-year terms.
"Their term is five years, they can stay for five years, but what we will do is that we will fix a term for selectors and appoint them."
‘Will Re-Look Into Pension Scheme’
The new BCCI chief said he also plans to re-work the Board's pension scheme for cricketers.
"We will re-look at the entire pension scheme because a lot of them has jobs and still get pension. So we will have to make it more available to people who are in much more need."
‘We’re Incentivising States to Build Better Infrastructure’
Ganguly also plans to share BCCI's ever-increasing revenue with all stakeholders, including the newly-formed nine state bodies.
"As you know the revenue of BCCI is increasing and will increase. The money has gone up so what we are doing is incentivising states to build better infrastructure. Gujarat has build such a huge stadium, Himachal has such fantastic facilities, Chennai's new stands are back on track.
"We are building the new NCA. The nine new states needs infrastructure, they have to buy grounds, they have to build infrastructure. So we will not just give money in one go, we will departmentalise it and BCCI will monitor the progress. We will form a committee headed by three of us (Ganguly, Dhumal, Shah)."
Corruption in India’s T20 Leagues
Ganguly in the press conference revealed that a bookie had approached a player during the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, but said it is "very hard for the Board to stop tournaments, because somebody is just approached".
"Even in the Syed Mushtaq, I was told that one of the players was approached but I don't know the exact name. But there was an approach made and he reported it. That's (approach) not the problem, that's not wrong. What is wrong is what happens after they get approached," Ganguly said.
"We have dealt with it (in case of TNPL and KPL). We have spoken to respective states. The KPL is on hold now till all these gets cleared.
"There are tournaments in Chennai, Saurashtra and Mumbai. For Saurashtra and Mumbai, there has not been any complaints, but in Chennai there have been couple of complaints, but we will deal with it." He said the Board will have to strengthen its Anti-Corruption Unit to deal with these kind of issues.
"Nobody wants this, it doesn't help anyone. And we will put a system at the two leagues in which betting and fixing happened, KPL is on hold and Chennai (TNPL) has suspended the two franchises.
"We have to get anti-corruption system right, try and put the best anti-corruption, try and make it even stronger and assess it. If it doesn't work or doesn't stop, we will have to think of something else."
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