Ratnakar Shetty may not be able to contest MCA elections

Mumbai cricket’s onetime long-serving administrator, Ratnakar Shetty, might not be able to contest the 2013 MCA elections. Mumbai Cricket Association’s managing committee, in a meeting last week, passed a resolution that will prevent officials associated with the BCCI, IPL and the Garware Club from contesting the state body’s biennial elections. “If Shetty wants to contest, he will have to quit his BCCI’s post,” said an MCA official.

However, the association has made exceptions for selectors and coaches. DNA has learnt that it wasn’t an unanimous decision. It was made with resistance from MCA members.
Shetty is presently the general manager of cricket development with the Indian cricket board. Earlier, he served as BCCI’s chief administrative officer (CAO) for six years before the cash-rich body introduced a corporate structure.

MCA chief Ravi Savant had beaten Shetty to the post of interim president in place of the late Vilasrao Deshmukh in the 2012 elections. Shetty had stepped down as vice-president after conveying the decision only verbally before retracting on it. The MCA, however, didn’t give him a second chance.

Last year, former India cricketer and MCA’s managing committee member Chandrakant Pandit was sacked as cricket improvement committee chief. Pandit was also associated with the Rajasthan Cricket Association’s indoor academy as its director, something that was unacceptable to the MCA. Pandit was eventually expelled from the post before being appointed as chairman of the BCCI’s junior selection committee.