After numerous delays, BCCI Ethics officer lays down ground rules for complaints
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Although the CoA rejected the BCCI officials' suggestion of putting down a few ground rules, BCCI ombudsman and Ethics Officer DK Jain has laid down a procedure similar to the one deliberated by BCCI officials. Jain has said that it has become absolutely necessary to provide a framework.
Recently, there hasn’t been a single day where the office of the ethics officer hasn’t been on spotlight, majorly thanks to the high-profile complaints against three stalwarts of Indian cricket - Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman. While the trio had replied back, and the ombudsman has stated that their conflicts are “tractable”, the BCCI officials asked the CoA to put up a system that will ensure important cases don’t slip under the carpet. While the CoA had rejected that suggestion, Jain has stated that it has become absolutely necessary to provide a framework so that genuine issues are not swept under the carpet.Â
“It has been noticed that numerous emails are being received, which contain all kinds of allegations against past and present players, officials, functionaries of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, etc. This often results in delay in the processing of the genuine complaints or some of them, inadvertently, get ignored due to the sheer number of emails received by the Office of the Ethics Officer.
“Therefore, it has become absolutely necessary to devise a mechanism to ensure that only genuine complaints are received and ultimately entertained by the Office of the Ethics Officer, BCCI, which shall also ensure that the same get taken up and decided expeditiously and no time is wasted in dealing with frivolous/non-genuine Complaints,” it read.
A senior BCCI official has welcomed the move and stated that this should’ve been in place much earlier and had this been in place the former Indian cricketing greats wouldn’t have suffered the humiliation of conflict of interest charges.Â
“This should have been the first order of the office. We have always raised these concerns. I remember Ajay Shirke being very vocal about this in 2016 when the BCCI in its SGM had adopted 90 per cent of the Lodha recommendations. Just because this has come from the BCCI, it was looked at something evil. Now the ethics officer has issued the directions to that effect.
“It is about experience and intent. The suggestions and deliberations of the BCCI members was backed with practical experiences that got down to the brass tacks. An exposure to international players and the authority of a dictator can not replace experience. These directions from the ethics officer only underline the importance of experience and the balances approach that he has adopted,” the official said.
