Upset with how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office bearers have been delaying a number of payments, the committee of administrators (COA) headed by Vinod Rai have decided to include two additional signatories for all remittances.

As per the BCCI constitution, the board’s secretary and treasurer are liable to approve and make payments. However, citing the many discrepancies with regards to payments of late, the COA have decided to hand chief financial officer Santosh Rangnekar and administration general manager, Ratnakar Shetty, the same powers.

In a fresh directive issued by COA, henceforth, all payments to be made on behalf of the BCCI will be jointly approved by acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and CEO Rahul Johri. In a scenario where one of them approves a payment and the other does not or fails to agree with or reject the approval within three days, the matter will be placed before the COA to take a final call. The directive also says that all payments to the CEO or the other office-bearers will require the direct approval of the COA.

“In any event and notwithstanding the above, prior approval of the Committee of Administrators shall be taken in respect of any payment where the beneficary is the CEO, Acting President, Acting Secretary, Treasurer or any employee who works exclusively with any of them. The CEO and the existing office bearers shall jointly prepare a list of such employees and submit the same to the Committee of Administrators. The treasurer shall be copied (for information only) on requests for approval of payments,” the COA writes.

CEO Johri has been handed the task to complete all the necessary paperwork and formalities with the banks for adding Rangnekar and Shetty as additional signatories for all the BCCI’s bank accounts.

“If a payment is not processed and/or decision is not implemented within three working days, the Committee of Administrators may direct the other two signatories, namely Santosh Rangnekar and Ratnakar Shetty, to process the payment and/or implement the decision instead of the joint secretary and the Treasurer,” the directive further reads.

The COA earlier had decided to release long-pending payments to Cricket South Africa (CSA) and West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which the BCCI had kept on hold for more than a year. But the BCCI is yet to go ahead with the payments.

No Srinivasan for ICC: CoA

In a meeting held in Hyderabad, the COA has made it clear to the office-bearers that Vikram Limaye, one of the four committee members, will not attend the ICC meeting if either Anirudh Chaudhry or Amitabh Choudhary were willing to go instead. There have been murmurs that the BCCI members might nominate former president N Srinivasan to represent the board in the ICC during their special general body meeting to be held on April 9, Sunday. 

The COA had told both Chaudhry and Choudhary that in case Srinivasan’s name is finalised then be prepared with an alternate choice as the committee will not approve the former boss’s nomination.

Courtesy: The Indian Express