Diana Edulji, BCCI members not convinced with probe panel’s clean chit to Rahul Johri
Edulji said that the fact that one member of the probe panel has recommended that Johri should undergo gender sensitization counselling is sufficient for her to arrive at the conclusion that he is not fit to be the CEO of BCCI.
The three-member independent panel — Justice (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, Barkha Singh and Veena Gowda — constituted by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) to probe allegations of sexual harassment against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri has given him a clean chit and called the allegations levied against him as ‘baseless and fabricated’. But this has divided the board with CoA member Diana Edulji and other board officials making it clear that they will await the response of the Supreme Court in the whole episode.
“The allegations of sexual harassment in the office or elsewhere are false, baseless and have been fabricated and manufactured with an ulterior motive to harm Mr. Rahul Johri...,” head of the probe committee Justice (Retd) Rakesh Sharma stated in his findings.
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But Veena Gowda has made some serious recommendations in the matter. “Each of the allegations before the committee has been dealt with above and as a conclusion I am reiterating some of the consequential observations made therein for recommended action:
A) The Conduct of Mr. Rahul Johri at Birmingham, as a CEO of an institution such as BCCI is unprofessional and inappropriate which would adversely affect its reputation and the same has to be looked at by the concerned authorities.
B) In view of his conduct at Birmingham as well as keeping in mind the allegations made by Ms. X and his conduct before this Committee with respect to the photographs submitted, it is essential that Mr. Johri undergo some form of gender sensitivity counselling/ training,” she wrote.
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After going through the report, Edulji has made it clear that she does not agree with the verdict and has her reservations. Edulji said that she does not agree with the conclusions of Justice Rakesh Sharma (Retd.) and Smt. Barkha Singh. She alluded to the finding in Gowda’s recommendations to the effect that as a CEO of an institution such as BCCI, the unprofessional and inappropriate conduct of Johri would adversely affect the reputation of BCCI.
Edulji pointed out it has been her stand right from the beginning that the reputation of BCCI is of prime importance. In the circumstances, Edulji said that the fact that Gowda has recommended that Johri should undergo gender sensitization counselling/ training is sufficient for her to arrive at the conclusion that he is not fit to be the CEO of BCCI.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, a senior board official echoed her sentiments and questioned the whole process and made it clear that it will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court looks at the situation.
“Since this report is shrouded in secrecy and the procedure is shrouded in even deeper secrecy, it is very important to know whether the committee was even constituted properly, whether this was even constituted under any rule or law, whether the committee followed the terms of reference, whether they actually probed anything as their terms of reference required them to do or were they happy to sit in judgment on only those cases where the complainants were courageous enough to come before them?
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“The validity of their report greatly depends on the answer to all these questions and whether they called the BCCI employee in question or did they treat an apology from the CEO to the said employee as the conclusion of the matter. If that be the case then it raises very serious questions on the handling of a matter of sexual harassment by the CoA led BCCI. Therefore this will assume significance on the next date of hearing before the Supreme Court,” the official said.
Another official said that the BCCI general body also needs to study the whole situation and decide if Johri is fit to continue as the reputation of the board is of prime importance.
“It also needs to be understood that the continuance of an official having such allegations against him and which allegations have been dealt with in such a manner, is a matter of policy and the decision on the same, whether to continue with the employment or no, is a matter therefore to be taken by the General Body of the BCCI,” he said.
Interestingly, Edulji made it clear that the report of the committee is actually a split 2 : 1 verdict and Johri should be asked to tender his resignation with immediate effect. But CoA chief Vinod Rai decided otherwise. The chairman stated that the natural consequence would be that Johri continues as the CEO of BCCI and is entitled resume office. Edulji disagreed with this. However, Rai reiterated that Johri should continue as the CEO of BCCI and resume his duties, as a natural consequence.
This has further surprised board officials. “When there was a stalemate with regard to the formation of the committee, committee was formed. When there was a stalemate regarding whether Johri comes back it is natural that he comes back. How does this work actually? Clearly needs to be looked into,” one of the officials signed off.
