With ‘eligible’ BCCI officials ready to take charge, COA clarifies rules of the game

The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) has made it clear to the ‘eligible’ Indian Cricket Board’s three officials that “they have no power whatsoever to work independently and they need to take instructions from COA for anything and everything they do”.

This was conveyed after a meeting took place in Delhi on Sunday to discuss the situation arisen after March 24 orders of Apex court. With BCCI’s vice-president C.K. Khanna, joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary filing an undertaking in the SC, the Court allowed them to work as BCCI officials, pending determination of the validity of the same.

It must be mentioned here that this situation arises only after SC in its January 2, 2017 orders removed president Anurag Thakur as secretary Ajay Shirke from the posts. Further, SC in its January 30 orders appointed a three-member COA under Vinod Rai.

DNA has learnt that all three of these BCCI officials were planning to reach Mumbai early on Monday to take charge of BCCI. But, this latest diktat of COA have come as a jolt for their plans as “they can only now function under the supervision and control of the COA”.

Rest all the former BCCI office-bearers are now required to serve a mandatory three-year cooling off period as per Justice Lodha panel recommendations. DNA has also learnt that COA is likely to call upon a Special General Meeting on April 10 in Delhi to make changes in the MoU and Rules and Regulations of the BCCI.
 
The following are the directions issued by the COA on Sunday:
 
1. Each of the existing office bearers shall be bound to act in accordance with the instructions of the COA and/or shall discharge their duties only with the prior written approval of the Committee of Administrators. Any actions already taken by any of the existing office bearers after the order dated 24th March 2017 shall immediately be intimated in writing by the concerned office bearer(s) to the Committee of Administrators for their permission and shall be continued/proceeded with only after written permission for the same is granted by the COA. The existing office bearers shall not make any statements, representations or commitments on behalf of the BCCI to any third party including to Government, Court, Tribunal, regulatory authority, media or any cricket body or organization without the prior written approval of the Committee of Administrators.
 
2. The Chief Executive Officer (Rahul Johri) and the Chief Financial Officer of the BCCI shall report only to the COA.
 
3. The CEO shall continue to sign all affidavits, applications, etc. in respect of legal proceedings filed by or against the BCCI. The CEO shall continue to issue instructions to advocates/ legal advisors in relation to fresh as well as pending legal proceedings under the supervision and control of the COA.
 
4. All payments to be made on behalf of the BCCI shall be jointly approved by the Joint Secretary and the CEO. In the event one of them approves a payment and the other does not or fails either to reject or approve such payment within 3 days, the matter shall be placed before the COA for their decision. If the COA decides that the payment needs to be made, the said payment shall be processed and made.
 
5. The COA may communicate their instructions and approval to the existing office bearers through the CEO.
 
6. In order for any action/ decision (including without limitation any action/ decision taken by any Committee or the General Body) to be valid and binding on the BCCI, the same must be taken with the prior approval of the COA.
 
7. All information, correspondence, communications and discussions involving the COA and any employee/ consultant/ retainer/ service provider/ office bearer shall be kept confidential and shall not be disclosed to any person (including any office bearer) without the express written consent of the COA.