‘Rahul Dravid has no conflict case to answer’
Among other important points on the agenda discussed by the three-member Supreme Court-appointed panel to run BCCI was holding elections of BCCI and its state associations, and the selection process of the India team coach.
Indian cricket Board’s Committee of Administrators (CoA) has determined that Rahul Dravid has no conflict of interest and is confident the former India skipper will be cleared to continue as the National Cricket Academy’s cricket head.
“There’s no conflict in Rahul’s case. He has got a notice and we have cleared his appointment. We had seen no conflict; if the ombudsman (sees any), we will have our response going to the ombudsman why there is no conflict. He has to consider (it). It’s a process…and the process will continue,” CoA member, Lt Gen (retd) Ravi Thodge, told reporters after a meeting of the panel here on Tuesday.
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BCCI ombudsman DK Jain has issued a notice to Dravid, seeking response to allegations of conflict of interest as an employee of India Cements, which owns IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. Dravid has taken a two-year leave of absence from the company.
“Once you select someone of Dravid’s stature, he has to ensure NCA comes up to international standard. He has given his vision and we are fully in support of that. We will work together,” said Thodge.
Among other important points on the agenda discussed by the three-member Supreme Court-appointed panel to run BCCI was holding elections of BCCI and its state associations, and the selection process of the India team coach.
Thodge said the shortlisting of candidates for head coach’s post has been done and there is no pressure on the Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee that will do the selection.
“Rest of the issues are administrative (related to) selection of the head coach and selection of other coaches, that is what we discussed. Interviews will start now. Shortlisting has been done. I won’t get into the names, there is too much speculation. There is no pressure on anybody (on selecting the coach). The CAC is an independent body which will select the coach, and balance will be done by selectors. That is the normal process as per the BCCI constitution (from) August 16 onwards, till they complete it.”
The election process is expected to face some delay. It is scheduled for September (state units) and October (BCCI). “We discussed about the elections. There were discussions with the electoral officer. Certain things have been resolved. A code has been drawn,” said Thodge.
On the issue of the associations refusing to come on board, Thodge said they have had enough time to conduct elections. “There will be minor delays. There is ample time. We just held a review; most of them will join by then. I don’t see such a great difficulty in getting it done. Some of them are yet to register their constitution. Figures keep changing on a daily basis. It’s more than 24-25… (those who have complied with).The intention is to hold the election around the date given (October 22).”
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On the sidelines of the CoA meeting, a talk was organised by BCCI’s legal firm. It was delivered by Dr Simon Longstaff, who supervised Cricket Australia’s ‘Cultural Review’ after last year’s ball-tampering scandal. The talk was on governance and ethics, said Thodge. “Cricket was called the gentleman’s game till the betting scandal hit. Every game goes through this. He (Longstaff) was here and gave a lecture. It was not related to Indian cricket per se. We are not saying there are any issues about ethics in Indian cricket, no way. It was on governance.”
The Committee of Administrators (CoA), along with Dravid and the top brass of BCCI attended the lecture.
