Pawar can stay on as BCCI president

Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president and ICC vice-president, can continue as the Indian board's president till his term ends in September as it has emerged that an ICC rule barring dual roles does not apply to a president-elect. Pawar was expected to quit his BCCI job soon after assuming the additional role of president-elect early next month, but officials from both organisations have told Cricinfo the ICC rules do permit him to stay on.

Under an arrangement reached last year, Pawar was to have quit his BCCI post after David Morgan officially became president at the ICC's annual conference in Dubai,. The BCCI was expected to function under an interim arrangement from June to September, when Shashank Manohar - the president-elect and a lawyer from Nagpur - would officially taken over as president.

However, the ICC has clarified that the freeze on holding dual posts currently applies only to the post of president, and does not include the vice-president or president-elect. Sources in the BCCI said they have been informed by officials close to Pawar that he will stay on with the Indian board to "smoothen the transition process", especially with senior officials jostling to secure vantage positions during an expected BCCI reshuffle in September, when the key posts of secretary and treasurer may be re-allotted.

An ICC spokesperson said there is "nothing in the ICC constitution that can prevent Pawar from holding both posts at this stage". IS Bindra, the ICC's principal advisor, said the dual-role rule applies only to the job of president. "I see no bar in Pawar taking his time to hand over charge of BCCI," Bindra told Cricinfo. "The ICC constitution says the dual-role rule applies to the job of president and not the vice-president or president-elect."

Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer, said "as far as the BCCI is concerned, Pawar's term ends in September, and there is no other technicality involved."

The ICC had stated in a press release issued on June 27 last year that "(David) Morgan will now be expected to relinquish his role within the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in keeping with the existing policy that the president and the person chosen to succeed him should not represent a member at the same time as holding those offices. Mr Pawar will do likewise with his role within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 12 months' time."

It's clear now the rule does not apply to Pawar as president-elect. "As you will remember, David Morgan did not step down as chairman of the ECB immediately after being appointed as ICC's president-elect," an ICC spokesperson said. "He was elected as president-elect at ICC annual conference in June but Giles Clark only took over as ECB chairman in September."

However, the spokesperson said the issue may be revisited next month during the annual conference which will discuss a recommendation from the governance review committee that "a short clause be inserted into the articles (of the constitution) to specify formally the role of the vice-president and provide that he should not be permitted to hold any office under, or perform any executive duties for, any cricket authority". Even then, Pawar is unlikely to be affected as the first ICC board meeting he would attend as president-elect is slated for November, nearly two months after his BCCI term ends.