The BCCI member’s adamant approach towards the implementation of Lodha reforms has been once against brought to notice by one of the top cricket administrators in the country – Karsan Ghavri.
The former Indian fast bowler is latest among the list of critics who have slammed the ignorance.
The Chief of Saurashtra cricket players’ association wrote a hard worded letter to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) alleging that the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) is openly neglecting the Supreme Court order to adopt Lodha reforms.
“I write this letter to bring to your notice the SCA’s brazen violation of the SC order, both in letter and spirit. At a recent governing body meeting, the SCA members agreed on a few decisions which blatantly ignore Justice RM Lodha’s recommendations and disregard SC’s concerns about the damaging impact of the conflict of interest issue on cricket administration,” Ghavri, who played 39 Tests and 19 ODIS in the 1970s and 80s, has alleged.
“The SCA governing body in its May 27 meeting, recognised a players’ body whose president founder (Mahendra Rajdev) happens to be a governing body member and also a selector. If the SC had intended to give the players’ voice in administration, this SCA move has promptly managed to stifle it. It isn’t out of place to mention here that there hap pens to be another players’ body in Saurashtra which is registered by the charity commissioner. I, along with other ex-players, am a part of this recognized body.
The 66-year-old urged the COA to plan and make the body adhere to the reforms.
“In the background of this development, I plead to the CoA to put in place a robust and fair process by which an independent and a proactive players’ bodies be formed around the country. If it’s left to the state units to recognize the players’ body of their choice, the SC order’s purpose of giving cricketers a say in administration will be defeated,” Ghavri has written.
His point of dispute reflects the areas of discomfort which BCCI has already expressed. The apex cricketing board has shown reluctance to accept five particular reforms; those are – one state, one vote; definition of powers of appointed executives; size and constitution of the apex Council; age, tenure and cooling off period; and the size of the national selection committee.
Veteran cricket administrator Niranjan Shah, aged 70, is the currently the CEO of the association but he remains ineligible to hold any post in the state or BCCI level as per the Lodha reforms.
“In another move, the SCA governing body appointed 73-year-old Niranjan Shah as a chief executive. Shah has ruled the SCA over four decades, and stepped down as a secretary (in January this year), but courtesy his new, extra constitutional administrative role which he’s been offered, will continue to influence getting decisions in the region. This is not just a case of the SCA finding a loophole, but making a mockery of the SC order,” Ghavri alleged.