After being without an ombudsman and Ethics officer for more than three months, the Indian cricket board has re-appointed former Supreme Court judge DK Jain to both the posts for one more year.
“I have taken charge. The terms of appointment are the same. Once I get the list of complaints, I will start operating online,” said Jain.
The board’s first ever ombudsman, Jain’s previous term had ended on February 29. He had been appointed by the Supreme Court under the new BCCI constitution, and subsequently got additional charge of Ethics officer.
The appointment of an ombudsman was a central reform under the new BCCI constitution, after the board was taken to court over conflict of interest charges following the 2013 spot-fixing scandal.
Ironically, the BCCI officials later found the conflict of interest rules too stringent and interfering. Even before Sourav Ganguly and his team took charge of BCCI last October, the committee of administrators (CoA) had appealed to the apex court to dilute the guidelines.
“The CoA, during its tenure, has come across various instances where the rules pertaining to conflict of interest have been applied to positions and scenarios which in its view did not warrant such application. The CoA is of the view that the proscriptions contained in Rule 38 (4) of the BCCI constitution are capable of being interpreted in a manner that is a very straight jacketed manner (sic), which is proving to be counter-productive and disproportionately restrictive to players, both current as well as former,” the CoA wrote to the court.
{{/usCountry}}“The CoA, during its tenure, has come across various instances where the rules pertaining to conflict of interest have been applied to positions and scenarios which in its view did not warrant such application. The CoA is of the view that the proscriptions contained in Rule 38 (4) of the BCCI constitution are capable of being interpreted in a manner that is a very straight jacketed manner (sic), which is proving to be counter-productive and disproportionately restrictive to players, both current as well as former,” the CoA wrote to the court.
{{/usCountry}}Ganguly too spoke out against the conflict of interest rules. “We are going back to the court for clarifications because some of these, I don’t know where we will finish. The conflict issue stops us from everything, to get good people and keep them for longer and to stop them from doing other things is very difficult,” he had said.
However, Jain says he will continue to operate under the current rules, unless the court modifies its order. “I have got nothing to do with that (BCCI’s appeal). I have to go by the rules and regulations already adopted. Unless there is any change by any order of the Supreme Court, I am governed by the existing rules.”
During his previous term, Jain had received conflict of interest complaints against Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, and summoned each of them. Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman were told their roles with IPL franchises conflicted with their duties with the Cricket Advisory Committee. Dravid’s India Cements job, it was charged, was in conflict with his duties as NCA director.