CoA minutes show Edulji objected to forming ad-hoc CAC

New Delhi, Oct 4:  With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Ethics Officer D.K. Jain sending notices to the ad-hoc Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy for their alleged conflict of interest, the question of whether the practical problem of implementing the Conflict Clause as proposed by the Lodha Panel must be looked into has again come to the fore.

While the sending of notices to the trio saw Kapil and Rangaswamy resign, the whole fiasco could have been avoided if the Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai and Ravi Thodge had listened to Diana Edulji.

As per the minutes of the July 15 meeting, she had made her dissent know and said that an ad-hoc CAC cannot be formed as per the newly registered BCCI constitution.

Speaking to IANS, Rai though made it clear that the committee wouldn't have given the three-member CAC the go-ahead if they did find any conflict of interest in them being appointed to pick the head coach of the Indian men's team.

"The CoA did not seen a conflict and hence, the appointment was done. Even if there was a difference of opinion within the CoA, that person who was in the minority has not asked for his/her opinion to be recorded," he has clarified.

Speaking to IANS, former India cricketer Rangaswamy had said that people complaining is fine, but if the Ethics Officer picked up every complaint then it would create a difficult scenario and getting former cricketers to come into administration would be difficult.

"I gave my resignation from the CAC as also the directorship of the players association. Now, I can understand individuals complaining. But if the Ethics Officer acts on that, then it is not worth continuing. And I think one of the pressing demands for the new BCCI committee will be to provide clarity on this conflict of interest clause and from where are they looking to get eligible cricketers in key committees," she had pointed.