VVS Laxman blasts CoA for conflict of interest allegation

VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar are the mentors of Indian Premier League franchises Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians respectively, as well as the members of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). The CAC was formed in order to enable the legendary cricketers to contribute towards the development of cricket in India. Citing this, the BCCI Ombudsman Justice (Retd) DK Jain had sought for explanations from the duo after a complaint filed by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association's (MPCA) member Sanjeev Gupta. Tendulkar stated that he did not receive any monetary benefit from MI in his brief response, whereas, Laxman wrote that the CoA failed to respond to his query about his role in the CAC and thereby, he took over other roles.

"On December 7, 2018, we had written to the Committee of Administrators requesting them to clarify the scope of our role and responsibilities. To this date, there has been no reply. Since no tenure had been mentioned in the letter of intent issued in 2015, it was only reasonable to expect some communication on whether the CAC was still in existence. Unfortunately, that hasn't been forthcoming," he wrote in an affidavit filed through his lawyer on April 29, reported PTI.

"It will be worthwhile to note that the reason I agreed to be a member was because of the various inputs we were originally tasked with contributing towards the sustained growth of Indian cricket. The opportunity to be involved meaningfully in India's climb towards becoming a cricketing superpower post retirement was a privilege enough for me to turn down the offer of remuneration of being a part of CAC."

The CAC was formed in 2015 with Sourav Ganguly as its third member. They were tasked with various crucial roles for the development of the sport in India, like improving overseas performances of the national team as well as helping youngsters from the U-19 level and India A team. However, the committee has never met after 2017 when they were tasked with choosing the head coach of the national team. Laxman has claimed that the body has been inactive since then.

"The allegation of the complainant are baseless as we are in no manner selectors of either players or coaches and CAC is not a permanent body. None of the CAC members has (sic) been called on to give our opinion on any subjects except to be invited to be involved in the selection of national coaches and, once, the selection of junior national selectors. However, this is by no means a regular process and I am in no manner to be considered a selector,” the 44-year-old asserted.

Last but not the least, he requested the Ombudsman, who also happens to be the Ethics Officer, to review the "Conflict of Interest clause from the perspective of whether in the performance of my duties as a CAC member, I am being influenced by external factors. It is my respectful submission that when I am barely required to discharge any duties as a member of the CAC.”

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