COA submits report over forming of players' association

New Delhi [India], Jan 28 (ANI): The Committee of Administrators (CoA) submitted its sixth status report in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking interim directions to appoint an ombudsman, approve the new Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) Conflict of Interest Rules and to reconstitute the steering committee to include former cricketers such as Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad, Bharat Reddy, Shanta Rangaswamy and G.K. Pillai in the Cricket Players' Association.

The BCCI is yet to appoint an ombudsman after Justice (Retd) A.P. Shah had stepped down in September 2016, after completing a one-year-term.

The CoA then submitted a list of six retired Supreme Court (SC) judges to the BCCI and asked it to choose any one of them as its ombudsman at a Special General Meeting (SGM) on July 26, 2017.

However, the appointment has not happened, despite the SGM authorising its office bearers to appoint an ombudsman.

Earlier, a report was submitted by the Lodha Committee, stating that a steering committee was to be formed, comprising of Pillai, Mohinder Amarnath, Kumble and Diana Edulji.

However, Edulji was appointed as a member of the CoA, while Kumble and Amarnath expressed their inability to be a part of the steering committee.

Since Pillai was the only member of the steering committee, the CoA has constituted a working group comprising of Kapil, Gaekwad, Reddy and Rangaswamy to assist Pillai in commencing the process of establishing a Cricket Players' Association and to formally reconstitute the steering committee under the SC's directions.

However, the process of establishing a Cricket Players' Association will take time to be formed soon since it is not dependent on the adoption of the new BCCI constitution.

According to the Lodha Committee recommendations, a member of the Players’ Cricket Association will have to be included in the Apex Council, which in turn will be taking important decisions related to cricket in India.

The CoA is reportedly keen to utilise the experience of Kapil, Gaekwad, Reddy and Rangaswamy.

Rangaswamy is considered the pioneer of women’s cricket in India. Also, Gaekwad has played an active role in the administration at the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA).

The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) a global body that represents the interests of professional cricketers, has long supported the idea of a Cricket Players’ Association in India.

A body was earlier formed under the guidance of former cricketers Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Arun Lal, but it did not yield results.

The BCCI had never encouraged the idea of a Cricket Players’ Association in the country.

However, it is now a mandatory requirement made by the Lodha Committee recommendations to implement the Cricket Player's Association in India. (ANI)