The BCCI Special General Meeting (SGM) in New Delhi on Friday red-flagged the Committee of Administrators’ (CoA) appointment of the new Anti-Corruption (ACU) head, Ajit Singh. But the CoA chose to ignore it, saying the general body proceedings would have no bearing on the decisions taken by the Committee.
Singh, a former Director of General Police, Rajasthan, replaced Neeraj Kumar, the former Delhi Police Commissioner, in April. The acting secretary of the cricket board, Amitabh Choudhary, had objected to the appointment, as he called for the general body’s approval. Today, the SGM decided in favour of Kumar staying in his role. “The members felt that the process to appoint the (new) ACU head wasn’t transparent. So the general body decided that Neeraj Kumar’s term will be extended,” the representative of an East Zone unit said.
The CoA refused to take notice. “As far as the CoA is concerned, all decisions taken by it are under directions of the court. We have the mandate of the court and if we have any explaining to do, we will do it to the court. Mr (Ajit) Singh has taken charge on April 1 and he is working for three months. He will continue working,” CoA head Vinod Rai told The Indian Express.
He informed that Kumar was replaced as the ACU head because he attained the retirement age of 65 set for the post. Rai also said Singh was picked from a pool of 13 applicants that had been shortlisted to eight.
Regarding the SGM’s decision to put Uttarakhand’s inclusion in the Ranji Trophy on hold, Rai said: “There’s a commitment to make them play the Ranji Trophy. And they, by consensus, will play the Ranji Trophy (this term).” Earlier this week, the CoA decided to bring the state to the fold by setting up a ‘Consensus Committee’. The members, however, felt that Uttarakhand needed to prove their first-class mettle by playing some matches at lower level. Incidentally, the BCCI’s technical committee has approved the participation of the North-Eastern states and Bihar in the Ranji Trophy.
The SGM, meanwhile, approved the new compensation structure for Indian cricket, paving the way for the acting secretary to sign the player contracts. Choudhary had been waiting for the general body’s approval before putting pen to paper.
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