BCCI General Body Approves New Player Contracts But Sticking Points With CoA Remain

Baidurjo Bhose |Cricketnext | Updated: June 22, 2018, 3:41 PM IST

BCCI logo. (Courtesy: Getty Images)

New Delhi: The battle lines between the BCCI the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) are set to sharpen after the BCCI held its Special General Body meeting (SGM) in New Delhi on Friday. Although the office bearers and state association representatives approved the new contracts of the Indian players, as was expected, they did so with a rider, proposing an enhanced pay scale for domestic players.

However, in a clear signal that they are not willing to accept all decisions made by the CoA uncontested, the meeting blocked the appointment of Ajit Singh as the new chief of the Anti-Corruption Unit, as proposed by the CoA. The SGM and felt it was best to hand the incumbent Neeraj Kumar an extension till a new appointment was made. The Ranji status given to Uttarakhand by the CoA in a meeting last week was also rejected by the body.

The meeting started with original petitioner in the Conflict of Interest and IPL spot-fixing episode of 2013 Aditya Verma apologising to the members for having earlier criticised the working of the board.

The body also announced that two divisions will come into the Ranji system with the top 28 teams participating in the elite division and a plate division consisting of the likes of Bihar and North-Eastern states.

Speaking about the contracts being approved, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said: “The general body of the BCCI has endorsed and authorised me to sign the contracts and proposed an increase in domestic cricket for both men and women once information is available to us. We do not have the agenda papers despite the notice saying all agenda papers should reach us,” he said.

Throwing further light on the matter, Chaudhry said, “Player contract enhancement for domestic players has been proposed taking into consideration the inflation and all the other aspects as we feel these have made the actual value of money they get small. It will come into effect from the 2017-18 season and a holistic approach will be taken.”

With regards to the new National Cricket Academy being built outside Bengaluru, Chaudhry said: “The general body has given NCA board directions to sit down and chalk out policies keeping in mind growth of the game. They have been asked to prepare a document to fulfil all necessary requirements for the new academy. We are looking to have a state of the art NCA.”

The acting secretary had been questioned by the CoA for not keeping them in the loop when the ICC decided to substitute the Champions Trophy with the World T20. Chaudhary clarified his position saying: “I was told I didn’t keep the members in loop, but the decision was taken in chief executives committee where I am not the representative,” he smiled.

He further added: “Despite doubts, the SGM has taken place at appointed time and place and while the SGM has been smaller in the past, we had 28 nominations today. All resolutions adopted today are unanimous and after discussion.”

On being asked if the CoA would approve the decision of the meeting, Chaudhry said: “We have certain duties, the CoA has certain duties. We will continue to work under the supervision of the CoA.”