COA finalises to conduct BCCI elections in about 3 months

Ever since the apex court of the land suspended Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke from the position of President and Secretary of the BCCI in January 2017, the board has been under the governance of the Committee of Administrators led by former CAG Vinod Rai. However,, after the new constitution came into effect last week, Rai said in a media meet on Monday that the new board will replace the CoA after the election which is to be held in three months of time. 

"We are looking at elections in about 90 days. We have given the date as September 20 (to file a compliance report). There is no cause for any ambiguity. The COA will leave the moment the new body takes over. There is a specific mandate that has been given to the CoA, rest assured we will not overstep it by a day," Rai said at the media meet.

There are reports of a few state cricket associations objecting to some reforms approved by the Supreme Court at a time when the board is looking to get closer to some sort of functional order. The state associations have been given time till September 20 to file a compliance report.

"There are some practical difficulties. And some associations have moved court for clarification. Hence, it will not be appropriate for me to interpret any of the clauses in the constitution since it has been brought before the court," Rai informed. 

Rai also mentioned about the one-time benefits (OTB) and pension hikes of domestic cricket and assured that these issues have been addressed properly.

"We have sorted it out. The payments will now be directly made to all the cricketers and not through any state association," the CoA chief clarified.

Rai also informed that BCCI's anti-corruption unit (ACU) will keep a close look on inter-state player transfers in order to check for any malpractice after the introduction of all North Eastern states in mainstream Indian domestic cricket.