Reports : BCCI pressurized by ICC to come under purview of NADA again
According to reports, the BCCI is feeling the heat from the International Cricket Council (ICC) over its resistance to come under the umbrella of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). BCCI has called for an urgent meeting of its officials in Kolkata to decide the future course of action.
According to a report in TOI world anti-doping body (WADA) has put pressure on the ICC to bring BCCI under the jurisdiction of NADA. BCCI has been very rigid on its stand and stuck with an independent private agency (IDTM) for conducting dope tests according to WADA norms. ICC has been in compliant with WADA while BCCI, refusing compliance with NADA, has reiterated that the board has been compliant with WADA. The BCCI has also contested that it is not a national sports federation.
The report also mention that the BCCI has called an urgent meeting of its officials - including the office-bearers, CEO Rahul Johri and the legal team - in Kolkata next week in the light of fresh developments which could have major implications. Johri has briefed the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrator (CoA) about some ‘new and urgent issues’ on the anti-doping policy of both BCCI and as a consequence ICC.
"Chairman of CoA Vinod Rai is of the view that these have long-term implications and that the views of the office-bearers need to be taken to ascertain future policy," sources close to the development told TOI.
Confirming the development, a senior NADA official told TOI that a lot of discussions have taken place behind the scenes between the NADA, WADA, and the ICC after BCCI dismissed the warning from the World agency last year.
NADA had tried to revive efforts to dope-test cricketers a couple of months ago after getting a go-ahead from the sports ministry. It even reached out to both the WADA and the ICC on the issue. Following BCCI's reluctance, Wada warned the ICC of sanctions since its ICC’s job to make its member nations comply with the anti-doping measures. ICC has briefed BCCI about the seriousness of the situation which could potentially lead to ICC losing its compliance with the WADA code.
The NADA official informed that the agency was involved in one-to-one discussion with offices of ICC chairman Shashank Manohar and WADA director general Olivier Niggli. According to a NADA source, the matter was never swept under the carpet as perceived by many following a meeting of sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore with Johri and BCCI GM (game development) Ratnakar Shetty in February, but was just put on hold for a while.
"Look, everybody is on the same page that dope testing of Indian cricketers has to be done (by Nada) and the whole issue has to be tackled properly. That's the majority consensus," the source added.