Rahul Dravid cleared of any conflict of interest by BCCI Ethics Officer

New Delhi, Nov 14: National Cricket Academy head Rahul Dravid has been given a clean chit by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Ombudsman-cum-Ethics Officer Justice (Retd) D.K. Jain over the conflict of interest allegations leveled against him.

Speaking to IANS, Jain said that he found there was no case of conflict against the former India skipper. "I have found no case of conflict against Dravid," he said.

In the order passed in the matter, accessed by IANS, Jain said: "For all the aforesaid reasons I am convinced that on facts at hand, a case of "conflict of interest" as enshrined in the Rules is not made out. Resultantly, the complaint is dismissed being bereft of any merit. This order will be communicated to Mr. Rahul Dravid, the Complainant and the BCCI. The signed copy of this Order shall be kept in the folder of the Complaint."

The order also reveals that the reason behind the second hearing on November 12 was the past instances of now BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and former India batsman V.V.S. Laxman's cases of conflict which were studied by Jain.

"It may be recorded that while preparing the present order, since the Ethics Officer was of the view that his earlier decisions in the cases of Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman required reconsideration on the limited aspect of literal interpretation of Sub-rule (4) of Rule 38 of the Rules and the interplay of the said Rule with Rule 1 (A)(g) of the Rules and Sub-rule (1) of Rule 38 of the Rules, a notice of further hearing to the Parties on this aspect was given on 30th October 2019, fixing the hearing for 12th November 2019. The Parties concerned i.e. the Complainant, Mr. Nandan Karnath, Ld. Counsel for Mr. Dravid and Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, Ld. Counsel the BCCI were heard on this aspect on 12th November 2019 and the matter was reserved for orders," it says.

Dravid, who is currently the head of NCA's operations in Bengaluru, was earlier served a "conflict of interest" notice by the BCCI Ethics Officer on a complaint from Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) life member Sanjeev Gupta.

In his complaint, Gupta claimed that Dravid is the NCA Director and is also employed as vice-president of India Cements group, which owns IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.

However, the former Indian captain had defended himself, saying that he has taken a leave of absence from India Cements.