Dalmiya Will Not Move Courts Against ICC Poll Result (16 Jul 1996)

16 July 1996

Dalmiya will not move courts against ICC poll result

Jagmohan Dalmiya, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has ruled out the possibility of moving the courts against the recent ruling of the International Cricket Council whereby despite securing a majority he was not elected ICC chairman.

Dalmiya said he would seek legal redress in the interpretation of the ICC`s electoral rules.

Future ICC elections, he said, could become a difficult affair if a stalemate like the present one arose.

"I am under tremendous pressure to move the court, but I feel that it is not the right way, " Dalmiya said, and added that an institution was above an individual.

Dalmiya said the BCCI would move the court of law to seek legal clarifications on the return of `veto` powers to the ICC. During the last decade India had vehemently opposed the veto power enjoyed by Australia and England for many years. But it appears that by exercising the same rules which led to a stalemate in the ICC elections, any four ICC full members could now bring the council`s working to a standstill and oppose any reform, Dalmiya said.

The second area of concern for the BCCI is that in case there is a stalemate again in the election for the ICC chairman`s post at the 1997 annual conference and with Sir Clyde Walcott`s term expiring next year, the world body of cricket would be without a chairman. On the same count, the ICC could also be without a chief executive when David Richards`s term expires in 1998. The ICC chairman`s present ruling could certainly have alarming consequences, Dalmiya said.

The BCCI working committee would meet in August and address itself on the issues to decide whether it should move a court of law to obtain legal clarifications on the ICC rules to save it from the impasse and also to thwart the moves to revive the veto powers in a camouflaged manner, he said.

Source :: Rediff ON The NeT (https://www.rediff.co.in)