BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary sending COA meeting minutes to TNCA raises eyebrows

New Delhi: The BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary sent an e-mail on the decisions taken by the Committee of Administrators (COA) on Tuesday to Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), which had moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday on one of the issues dogging the board.

The email contained the minutes of the first meeting of the Committee of Administrators, headed by former CAG Vinod Rai in Mumbai on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by the four-member COA, the CEO Rahul Johri and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary.

Once the decisions were taken and minuted, BCCI CEO Johri, as per protocol, e-mailed each of the five people present.

Amitabh Chaudhary received a copy from treasurer Aniruddh which clearly stated that CEO would convene the selection meeting and it also categorically mentioned that Johri will represent the board at the CEC meeting while Vikram Limaye will attend the Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) meeting apart from the board meeting.

However, subsequently the contents of the meeting was forwarded to the official account of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association treasurer.

“I will not like to comment on the issue as it is sub-judice matter,” TNCA treasurer Narsimhan replied to a query.

A section in the BCCI has questioned as to how a confidential e-mail that was sent by the CEO has been forwarded to a state cricket body “which has no business or locus standi” in the decisions taken.

“Aniruddh had sent the email to Amitabh so that he is aware about the developments and his current position. But it is still not clear as to what business Amitabh had when he decided to forward the CEO’s confidential mail to the official email account of Tamil Nadu CA treasurer. Not a great move I must say,” a former office-bearer of BCCI told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

The BCCI all these years has followed a convention of sending its secretary or joint secretary in his absence for the chief executives committee (CEC) meeting of the ICC.

But the rule was a convention because BCCI till 2016 never had a chief executive officer. As per ICC rule, it is the prerogative of the CEO of a board to attend the ICC CEC meeting while the ICC board meeting is attended by the president.

It will be interesting to find out who represents BCCI at the five different ICC meetings.

The CEC meeting starts on Thursday, followed by F&CA meeting on Friday and the big board meeting on Saturday. It concludes on Sunday with ICC Business Corporation and ICC Development Company meetings.