Conflict of interest removes Shastri from IPL Governing Council

Ravi Shastri has been removed from the IPL governing council, whose size has been trimmed, owing to a potential conflict of interest with his position as the India team director. This leaves Sourav Ganguly as the only cricketer on the panel.

Shastri appears to have violated the conflict clause relating to retired players being employed by the BCCI in the interest paper prepared by board president Shashank Manohar, in which he had listed code of conduct guidelines on conflict relating to administrators, players and board employees.

On Monday, Manohar had said that the code of conduct was set in motion immediately after all the guidelines were accepted in principle by the members at the BCCI annual general meeting in Mumbai.

Shastri's case fell under the clause on retired players which read: "Cricketers on the payroll of the BCCI or holding contracts with the BCCI shall not be part of any BCCI committees including the IPL Governing Council." Shastri has been part of the IPL Governing Council since its inception in 2008. However, questions surfaced about his role in the IPL once he took over as India's team director last year.

The Governing Council's strength has also been cut to five from 12. At the previous AGM, held in March, the BCCI had increased the number of members in the panel by including three invitees, but Manohar has strongly favoured trimming bloated sub-committees.

Incidentally, at the board's working committee on October 18, Manohar had proposed that there be three independent directors on the Governing Council. However, at the AGM on November 9, Manohar said the decision on having three independent members had been deferred.

"There was a debate as some members wondered what exactly the three outsiders could bring to the table. But there is a possibility they could be added later," one of the Governing Council members said. He also said the independent members would be paid consultants.