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Rs 3.23 crore spent on Choudhary and Chaudhry
Thursday 17 August 2017

 

Perks of BCCI officials: 3.23 crore spent on Choudhary and Chaudhry
BCCI's top office bearers are eligible for business class travel-and hotel stay, the board also foots the dining bills
In their fifth progress report submitted to the Supreme Court, the committee of administrators (CoA) have noted that the BCCI spent a total of Rs 4.62 crore on their office-bearers’ travels over the last two years. That includes Rs 1.71 crore and Rs 1.56 crore — Rs 3.23 cr in total — spent on treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, along with their respective personal executives, alone. 
The money the BCCI has spent on daily allowance for their two senior officials itself accounts to Rs 75.07 and Rs 42.05 lakh respectively.
It’s learnt that while the board finances the flights-office-bearers are eligible for business class travel-and hotel stay, they also foot the dining bills for the likes of Choudhary and Chaudhry along with their executives. Other expenses include credit card, ground transport, office expenses and telephone expenses.
According to the board’s policy, each office-bearer gets Rs 30,000 as daily allowance within India and 700 US dollars when traveling abroad for meetings or official visits. Each office-bearer’s executive assistant gets Rs 10,000 as daily allowance and provided transport facilities while they get 200 US dollars as daily allowance during foreign trips. 
Chaudhry’s personal executive, Gaurav Virmani, has been paid Rs 25.08 lakh, in all, as daily allowances since 2015.
Incidentally it’s not just the office-bearers who the board caters to. BCCI CEO Rahul Johri gets 500 US dollars per day when abroad, whereas general managers, MV Sridhar and Ratnakar Shetty, have been given 300 US dollars during overseas visits. Sridhar and Shetty, meanwhile, get paid Rs 5000 as daily allowances within India.
There’s also the question of logistics in terms of the multiple visits that office-bearers like Choudhary, Chaudhry and acting president CK Khanna have to make to Mumbai for the various board meetings held at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. 
While Choudhary is based out of Ranchi, Chaudhry hails from Bhiwani in Haryana while Khanna stays in Delhi. And this is the very reason why the CoA have recommended in their report that the various functions of the board be delineated from the managing committee, which is made up of the office-bearers, and the professional management, which includes the CEO and general managers. And it’s the CoA’s opinion that the daily functioning of the board be conducted by the CEO and other employees of the board to avoid the incessant travel expenses incurred in lieu of the office-bearers’ visits.
“Such delineation of functions, power duties and obligations is also meant to facilitate smooth and efficient functioning of the BCCI because the professional management (full-time employees) are based in the BCCI headquarters at Mumbai whereas elected office bearers and other members of the Apex Council (managing committee) would be based in the different places across the country. The BCCI currently incurs substantial expenses in the form of air travel, hotel stay, ground transport as well as travel and other allowances to the honorary office bearers including when they travel to Mumbai in connection with the discharge of their duties,” the report reads.

 

In their fifth progress report submitted to the Supreme Court, the committee of administrators (CoA) have noted that the BCCI spent a total of Rs 4.62 crore on their office-bearers’ travels over the last two years. That includes Rs 1.71 crore and Rs 1.56 crore — Rs 3.23 cr in total — spent on treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, along with their respective personal executives, alone. 

The money the BCCI has spent on daily allowance for their two senior officials itself accounts to Rs 75.07 and Rs 42.05 lakh respectively.It’s learnt that while the board finances the flights-office-bearers are eligible for business class travel-and hotel stay, they also foot the dining bills for the likes of Choudhary and Chaudhry along with their executives. Other expenses include credit card, ground transport, office expenses and telephone expenses.

According to the board’s policy, each office-bearer gets Rs 30,000 as daily allowance within India and 700 US dollars when traveling abroad for meetings or official visits. Each office-bearer’s executive assistant gets Rs 10,000 as daily allowance and provided transport facilities while they get 200 US dollars as daily allowance during foreign trips. 
Chaudhry’s personal executive, Gaurav Virmani, has been paid Rs 25.08 lakh, in all, as daily allowances since 2015.

Incidentally it’s not just the office-bearers who the board caters to. BCCI CEO Rahul Johri gets 500 US dollars per day when abroad, whereas general managers, MV Sridhar and Ratnakar Shetty, have been given 300 US dollars during overseas visits. Sridhar and Shetty, meanwhile, get paid Rs 5000 as daily allowances within India.

There’s also the question of logistics in terms of the multiple visits that office-bearers like Choudhary, Chaudhry and acting president CK Khanna have to make to Mumbai for the various board meetings held at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. 

While Choudhary is based out of Ranchi, Chaudhry hails from Bhiwani in Haryana while Khanna stays in Delhi. And this is the very reason why the CoA have recommended in their report that the various functions of the board be delineated from the managing committee, which is made up of the office-bearers, and the professional management, which includes the CEO and general managers. And it’s the CoA’s opinion that the daily functioning of the board be conducted by the CEO and other employees of the board to avoid the incessant travel expenses incurred in lieu of the office-bearers’ visits.

“Such delineation of functions, power duties and obligations is also meant to facilitate smooth and efficient functioning of the BCCI because the professional management (full-time employees) are based in the BCCI headquarters at Mumbai whereas elected office bearers and other members of the Apex Council (managing committee) would be based in the different places across the country. The BCCI currently incurs substantial expenses in the form of air travel, hotel stay, ground transport as well as travel and other allowances to the honorary office bearers including when they travel to Mumbai in connection with the discharge of their duties,” the report reads.

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)

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