Kapil not eligible for one-time benefit - Shukla

Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, has confirmed that Kapil Dev is not eligible for the BCCI's one-time benefit to former cricketers because he had not accepted the amnesty offered by the board in April 2009 for players and officials involved in the now defunct ICL. Shukla said that while the BCCI was "not against" Kapil, this "technical issue" was behind his exclusion from the one-time benefit.

Kapil, India's World Cup winning captain in 1983, would have been entitled to a fee of Rs. 1.5 crores (US$280,000 approx).

The BCCI, for its part, is yet to publish a full list of cricketers receiving the benefit, drawn out of the profits from the IPL playoffs.

"As far as Kapil Dev is concerned, the BCCI is not against him," Shukla told PTI. "We have not got anything against Kapil but there is a technical issue. He has not accepted the amnesty proposal (by the BCCI). Technically, he is out of this benefit ambit."

Kapil, in an article in the Hindustan Times, had said not all cricketers are answerable to the board, adding "you can't deny that player his due, which he is being given for the services rendered during his playing days." Shukla, however, said that if Kapil accepted the amnesty, he would be considered for the benefit. "It's a hypothetical question. If he gives it, the BCCI working committee will definitely consider it."

Among the other cricketers not receiving the benefit are Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Gundappa Viswanath and Syed Kirmani, as they'd already been allotted benefit matches in the past. "Those who have been already alloted benefit matches, they cannot be part of this scheme. They cannot be given the same advantage again," Shukla said.

"The reason behind giving the one-time benefit to players was that not many players were able to hold their benefit matches. Firstly, it's a cumbersome job to organise a match nowadays. No team is free to be available for the benefit matches.

"It was a very important decision as far as the BCCI is concerned. Roughly Rs 90-100 crore is being distributed to players and their families. Players were happy because they never thought that something like that would happen to them."

The board, Shukla said, has been criticised unfairly. "No sports organisation in the world has done it before. We are also giving pensions to our players. We feel upset when we come to know that unnecessary controversy has been created despite doing so much for the former players. In place of appreciating this gesture, they have been criticising us.

"People are not looking at the positive aspect and are only seeing the negative aspect. They are after the BCCI. Instead of helping the BCCI, you want to kill the organisation."