Supreme Court-appointed CoA says BCCI cannot speak to the ICC without its permission

What’s the story?

The ongoing tussle between the BCCI and the ICC got another interesting smattering of confusion when the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) directed the BCCI that it cannot speak with the ICC without getting its permission.

This diktat was sent across to the BCCI’s acting president C.K. Khanna, joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and CEO Rahul Johri.

The Details

The communication made it clear that:

"With a view to ensuring that the management and administration of the BCCI are carried out in accordance with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as in the interests of good governance, the Committee of Administrators considers it necessary to issue the following directions in addition to the directions dated 6 April 2017:

1. All letters, notices and other correspondence on behalf of the BCCI which seek to invoke or exercise any rights/ remedies under the Members Participation Agreement entered into between the BCCI and the ICC Business Corporation FZ-LLC (“IBC”) shall only be issued with the prior approval of the Committee of Administrators.

2. The direction in Paragraph 1 above shall also apply to letters, notices and other correspondence which seek to invoke or exercise any rights/ remedies against the International Cricket Council (“ICC”)."

In case you didn’t know...

The BCCI was left red-faced when it was outvoted by a whopping 12-2 and 13-1 vote to pass the changes in its Constitution and Financial model at the ICC Board meeting in Dubai on April 26. ICC Board approved the finance model which granted the BCCI a share of US $293 million from ICC events until 2023. The BCCI has ever since trying to invoke support from the members which would enable it call upon the Members Participation Agreement (MPA).

If the MPA is sprouted, it could well mean that India would pull out of all ICC events which would be held from 2017 to 2023.

What's next?

BCCI is a real tricky position and it could well use the participation in the Champions Trophy as a bait for the ICC and would hope that they demands are met.

However, this new communication by the CoA puts them under more pressure and they now have to approach this slippery slope with even more caution. Also, the onus now lies on the CoA and the strategy they adopt going forward.

Author's Take

The BCCI should identify the fact that the CoA is also a part of the Indian board and take them along and strategies to the best interest of Indian cricket.

Whether or not the BCCI goes ahead and honours the aforementioned notice remains to be seen, but one thing is clear that this lack of trust within the two fragments is not good news for Indian cricket.