BCCI's conflict-of-interest declaration faces resistance

Almost a month after receiving the no-conflict-of-interest declaration from the BCCI, four member associations, including that of BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, have still not signed the declaration. The issue is likely to be taken up at next week's BCCI working committee.

Haryana Cricket Association, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Karnataka State Cricket Association and Hyderabad Cricket Association have still not signed the dotted line of the no-conflict-of-interest declaration circulated by the BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur on July 21. Interestingly, all the four associations are loyal supporters of the former BCCI president N Srinivasan, though others close to him have signed it. Two of these four associations confirmed to ESPNcricinfo they will raise their concerns during next week's working committee meeting, scheduled to be held in Kolkata on August 28.

Haryana hasn't yet signed because, according to an association insider, the communication is "invalid since it's not a working committee resolution". TNCA and KSCA will seek clarifications on the definition of business and commercial commitments of players and office-bearers. Hyderabad Cricket Association, meanwhile, is still deliberating the issue and will finalise its stance in an executive committee meeting later this week.

TNCA secretary Kasi Viswanathan said they needed "a lot of clarifications at the working committee on what constituted business and commercial commitments of players as well as office-bearers" before the association can sign the document. TNCA's alleged conflicts of interest, with president Srinivasan's family business owning an IPL franchise, is considered to be the root cause of the problem.

In fact, during its probe of the IPL corruption scandal, Supreme Court-appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal panel had barred none of the individuals associated with India Cements to be involved in Indian cricket.

While KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel and president PR Ashok Anand remained unavailable for a comment, a KSCA source elaborated on their grievances. "Even the top players are associated with a lot of franchises. Conflict of interest... even some of our players are there as selectors, coaches, some of the life members are there as coaches, whether it will be applicable to cricketers. So BCCI's clarification is required. No way [we will sign this before we get clarification]," he said.

Patel, interestingly, wears plenty of hats at present. Besides being the KSCA secretary, the former India batsman also serves as the Royal Challengers Bangalore chief executive and the National Cricket Academy director.

Hyderabad has an interesting tale, with president Arshad Ayub and secretary John Manoj both running renowned cricket academies in Hyderabad. Former HCA president Shivlal Yadav is reported to have accused both of them for selecting players mainly from their academies in Hyderabad teams during his recent deposition before the Lodha committee.

"How will it be a conflict of interest?" an HCA official asked. "There are no parameters as such. Today they will say it is conflict. That means tomorrow if my son plays also then it becomes a conflict. Should he not play or what?

"Lodha Committee is coming and checking. How will they know that a cricketer will start his life naturally with cricket [as a player] and if he wants to go into managing committee… he shouldn't be stopped from doing that, no? Other than that [being involved in cricket], what we can do, you tell me?"

While Thakur was unavailable for comment, a BCCI official clarified that the board was open to answering all doubts. In fact, when one of the four disgruntled association representatives raised the issue with the BCCI officials, he was told to "write in with all the objections so that they can be dealt with". So far, the BCCI has not received any written communication.

As for the lack of a working committee stamp on the BCCI circular, the official clarified that the BCCI rulebook authorises the secretary to initiate such actions with the permission of the president.

Besides the former players' involvement in various capacities, one of the major conflict of interest areas has been the in-stadia rights allocation for international matches. For every international match that even a small centre gets to host once every three years, it is observed that many associations award the in-stadia rights to kin of the key officials and allegedly get kickbacks.

While Thakur is walking away with the credit for setting the motion in process, a BCCI old-timer said the move has been part of Dalmiya's plans for a long time. He recalled an incident in 2004-05, when Dalmiya, who was the de facto head of the BCCI with Ranbir Singh Mahendra as a proxy president, had proposed a similar declaration. Facing flak during the controversial allocation of TV rights, Dalmiya had proposed in a working committee to sign an undertaking declaring no conflict of interest in awarding the broadcast rights and signed it himself. Other BCCI officials, however, objected to it.

The declaration circulated by Thakur last month asks each office-bearer of all 30 full members to confirm: "I am not in any manner or mode associated or connected with any Institution, body Corporate, Association of persons, Partnership or otherwise in any form or manner which derives any financial, commercial or any other benefits or gain from the Board of Control for Cricket in India directly or indirectly, other than the official grants received by the Association I represent."