BCCI wonât recognise recent ICC Board decisions, clarifies CoA
CoA has conveyed to the ICC that BCCI will not be bound by decisions taken during the world governing bodyâs board meeting in Dubai since Amitabh Choudhary was not Indiaâs authorised representative. Earlier, Choudhary was barred by the CoA from attending ICC meetings on behalf of India.
While the meeting was going on in Mumbai to put Sourav Ganguly in the position of the BCCI president, the board suffered a big embarrassment when Manu Sawhney pushed the new FTP for approval despite reservations from CA, ECB, NZC, and WICB. According to a report on the Times of India, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri was also present at the meeting in Dubai and is learnt to have opposed Sawhney's decision, by informing that "BCCI elections are presently underway and it will only be prudent for the new board members to deliberate and provide their inputs on this issue before any final decision is taken."
Despite CoA debarring Amitabh Choudhary from functioning as acting secretary, the BCCI is being illegally represented at the ICC by the former JSCA official. Hence, he was supposed to be abstained from casting a vote in the FTP matter as sources at the ICC meeting told TOI that Johri and CEOs from other member boards were sidelined by Sawhney's office. As he went ahead and participated in the policy-decision voting on the invitation of Shashank Manohar-led global body, the CoA has conveyed to the ICC that BCCI will not be bound by decisions taken during the world governing bodyâs board meeting in Dubai since Choudhary was not Indiaâs authorised representative.
âThe COA doesnât recognise the participation of Amitabh Choudhary as a representative of the BCCI to the ICC. Accordingly, no decisions or commitments (if any) undertaken by him, on behalf of BCCI, will be binding on the BCCI,â the CoA, which will demit office on October 23, wrote in a strongly-worded mail to ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney, reported Sportstar.
âLikewise, any decision that the ICC may claim to have taken during the meeting will neither bind the BCCI nor will it recognise the same,â CoA said in the mail.
In a pointed rebuttal to Sawhney, who on October 14 had written to the CoA that ICCâs legal cell had vetted Choudharyâs participation in the board meeting, the Vinod Rai-led Committee said they have no right to interfere in BCCIâs internal matters and it is only BCCI's prerogative to choose one.
âICC cannot claim or otherwise have any say or role whatsoever in the rights of BCCI to duly nominate its representative. Please note that ICCâs action amounts to an illegal and uncalled for intrusion in the internal affairs of a member nation."