BCCI-RCA deadlock continues as meeting deferred indefinitely

The BCCI’s disciplinary committee meeting with the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) officials failed to break the deadlock after the objections raised by a top official of the suspended association regarding composition of the disciplinary committee. “It has been deferred because they have raised certain objections. We will go through them and then revert to them,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel told reporters at the Cricket Centre today. [caption id=“attachment_1722367” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of BCCI logo. Reuters[/caption] The RCA was suspended by the BCCI after former IPL chief Lalit Modi, who has been banned for life by the BCCI, was declared elected as its President on May 6. “We were called by the secretary of BCCI to present RCA before the disciplinary committee purportedly constituted by them. As we communicated to them, we raised certain fundamental issues objections about the jurisdiction , composition and the constitution on mainly two grounds,” RCA deputy president and Modi confidante Mehmood Abdi said after the meeting. “Firstly, the members of the the disciplinary committee, Shivlal Yadav and Rajiv Shukla, according to our information and that has been confirmed by many other members, were never appointed as members of the disciplinary committee, in the AGM held on September 29, 2013,” Abdi said. “Moreover, the minutes of the AGM have not been circulated to any of the state associations so far. Secondly, as per the BCCI bylaws, there have to be three members in the disciplinary committee whereas they have only two members right now,” Abdi added. Responding to Abdi’s charge, Patel said,“The committee is constitutionally valid, properly appointed and approved by the AGM in the AGM. Everything has been done properly. Fortunately or unfortunately, they have also attended the same. As an honorary secretary who has attended that meeting, I am telling you that it is a proper committee. Abdi also alleged that RCA had sought legal assistance which was not allowed. “About these legal issues, we wanted further legal assistance from other counsels so we made an application to them to allow us legal assistance in addition to my presence. Initially they refused it and then they gave a ruling that they will not allow legal assistance. We will wait for a detailed order with regard to that and then respond to it,” Abdi, himself an advocate, said. Patel, however said, legal assistance is not given as per the BCCI ruling. The BCCI may allow players from the suspended Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) to play in the upcoming domestic season from a non-represented state, according to its secretary. “Probable solution is we have proposed to have a team from unrepresented areas so that boys from all these problem areas can play. That option is always open,” Patel said. With the Rajasthan Cricket Association currently suspended by the Board, the players could miss the domestic season unless the two bodies engaged in a legal tussle over election of Modi, sort it out. “We have time and again mentioned that yes, we are in favour of the boys playing cricket. We are not against it. Unfortunately, they have mentioned that the ad-hoc committee cannot be considered for this matter. I am also bound by the BCCI decision that RCA has been suspended so we cannot allow an RCA team to take part,” Patel added. PTI