BCCI CoA’s meet with ex-players informal, minutes not recorded

By Baidurjo Bhose

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) met former players in Mumbai on Monday to discuss the Conflict of Interest clause in the newly registered Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) constitution. But sadly for those who attended the meeting, it has been termed as an 'informal' one and the minutes won't be recorded.

Speaking to IANS, a CoA member said that it was more about understanding the views of the former players and the issues they were facing and it was nothing more than an informal chat.

"It was a very fruitful session with the former players discussing the problems they have been facing due to the conflict clause in the new constitution. But we won't be recording the minutes as this is an informal chat where we wanted to understand their side," the member explained.

A senior BCCI official found the whole turn of events hilarious and even suggested that if having a round of coffee was the motive behind the meeting, the venue should have been the Cricket Club of India (CCI).

"So, if two members of the CoA were meeting former players and the agenda was Conflict of Interest, then was it not an official meeting? If so, minutes must have been recorded. If minutes were not recorded then it raises serious questions on the transparency and modus of the operations of the CoA.

"Was this just a group of individuals who decided to spontaneously meet up for a cup of coffee? Maybe so, but it doesn't paint a good picture regarding the efficacy of administration, professionalism and the operations of the BCCI and the CCI possibly serves better coffee," the official told IANS.

Speaking after the meeting, CoA members Diana Edulji said: "All the issues (related to conflict) were discussed like what are the problems being faced by cricketers, what are the problems being faced by us (the administrators) to implement it. It was a vibrant discussion.

"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. We will sit in our next meeting and discuss all these points. We are trying our level best to see what is best for cricket. We don't want to hamper anybody but also stay within the rules."

While former greats like Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid skipped the meeting, it was attended by the likes of Sanjay Manjrekar, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, and Rohan Gavaskar. Sourav Ganguly joined in over Skype.