CoA holds meeting with cricketers regarding ‘conflict’ clause, ‘white paper’ will be presented to the SC

Former women’s international cricketer Diana Edulji and retired Lt Gen Ravi Thodge on Monday had a discussion behind closed doors with numerous prominent retired players as well as some current cricketers. The two members of the Supreme Court-appointed CoA stated that the agenda of the meeting was to exchange experiences as to how the conflict of interest rule was affecting the players and the administration, before consequently discussing solutions for the same.

"There are some genuine difficulties which our cricketers face. We may not agree to certain things but certain things we have to agree. So, those are the issues which we wanted to gather from them and that was the purpose of this meeting. Cricketers are the ones who are conflicted, so we are addressing their issues," Thodge was quoted saying by TOI.

Past captains of the Men in Blue Dilip Vengsarkar and Sourav Ganguly(via Skype) were a part of the interaction which also included Sanjay Manjrekar, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, and Rohan Gavaskar. The outcome of the meeting was that the CoA would be preparing a ‘White paper’, which is basically an authoritative report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter.

"Sourav (Ganguly) was also there on Skype putting his (views). Good suggestions did come in and also that we will formulate a white paper and put it to the Amicus (Curiae) who would submit it to the (Supreme) Court," Edulji said.

However, she stressed that for the moment the rules currently in place will be followed until a decision is announced. The reformed constitution clearly states that one person shall only be holding a single post, based on the Lodha Panel’s recommendations, hence not allowing personnel to serve the national team if they are involved with an IPL team as a mentor or have a contract as a commentator.

"But as of now Conflict of Interest rules have to be followed because they are enshrined in the Constitution and as and when, it will be decided by the Court, the amendments will be made," Edulji told reporters here after the meeting.

Eminent cricketers such as VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have been in the past been handed notices by BCCI Ethics officer retired Justice DK Jain, on receiving complaints that they were in violation of the clause.

"The Ethics Officer sends complaints to us and we give our view also and then he takes the call. As of today, he (the Ethics Officer) is still going to take the call. We have to respect that he is a former judge of the Supreme Court and will go by the law-book. It's there that cricket is having a little problem with these conflict rules but I think once the (white) paper is put properly to the (Apex) court, it will definitely understand," Edulji added.