CoA Takes Complete Charge Of BCCI

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has taken full control of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

In a major revamp, the Vinod Rai-panel has annulled all the sub-committees of the Indian board except two. The two still-existing committees are the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and the selection panel. As a result, the CoA have clipped the powers of all the BCCI officials.

Consequently, the powers of CK Khanna (acting president), Amitabh Choudhary (acting secretary) and Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) – have been clipped. The trio now needs CoA’s permission to approve any decision or travel.The CoA has stated that BCCI’s management, led by the CEO Rahul Johri, will take charge of the daily affairs until fresh elections are conducted.

The panel said that it took the decision only after the BCCI accepted the new constitution which came into effect on August 21.

“As a consequence, the earlier Constitution of the BCCI (“Old Constitution”) stands extinguished and the New Constitution has come into force,” the CoA said in a three-page email distributed to the office-bearers and the professional management. “The New Constitution entrusts the day-to-day management of the BCCI to its professional management.”

According to the new constitution, the BCCI administration will be handled by a nine-member apex council, comprising the five office-bearers, a male and a female member from a BCCI-constituted Players Association, an elected representative of the board and a member of the CAG office.

CoA, now comprising only Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji, will discharge the duties till the time this council and the IPL Governing Council is setup.

Rai also insisted that the CoA has not removed the office-bearers. He backed his claim by citing the example of Choudhary convening the selection committee meetings to announce India’s squad for the final two Tests of their England tour, the India A squad for the two-match series against Australia A, and the India women squad for the ODI tour of Sri Lanka.

“Any powers exercisable by any office bearer will henceforth be only as mandated under the New Constitution and shall be exercised only with the prior approval of the Committee of Administrators,” the CoA said. “The office bearers and/or their respective Executive Assistants as well as the employees of BCCI shall not undertake any travel outside India at BCCI expense without the prior approval of the Committee of Administrators.”