Bindra questions contract with TWI

IS Bindra, the former president of the Indian board, has criticised the BCCI's decision to award a production contract to TWI for US$1.5million when an alternate offer worth US$1.29million by Nimbus, another production company, was available.

In a letter to the BCCI, Bindra said he did not understand "how and when the decision was taken to accept the production offer of Trans World International (TWI) and at what rate," acording to a report on Indiantelevision.com. Bindra said that the decision to award the contract was not unanimous, as the board had earlier claimed. He said that the board president, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, had only been authorised to negotiate with production companies and ensure that the board's revenue was maximised and the production costs minimised.

A while later, Mahendra responded to questions by media over Bindra's letter by saying that there were no discrepancies in the contract and that Nimbus's allegation that a board member had misled a BCCI decision-making team were false. He also wondered why Bindra had not spoken to him directly as both were on a flight to Chandigarh.

This new conflict is the latest in a series of hard questions being asked of the BCCI by board members. Embarrassing letters have been leaked to media, making public disagreements within the board. The most recent of these was a letter by Niranjan Shah, a former secretary of the board, asking how much the BCCI had lost on television rights during the Australian and South African tours of India.