BCCI-SC DRAMA

CoA appoints ACU head in middle of chaos; Shetty exits

by K Shriniwas Rao • Published on

March 31, 2018 was said to be Shetty's last day in office and - "funnily", as BCCI sources put it - nobody in the Board knew if Saturday was indeed his last day. © Agencies

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), led by ex-CAG Vinod Rai, seem to have different set of rules for different individuals working - on salary or an honorary basis - with the Indian cricket board.

The CoA has decided to go ahead and hire the new head for the BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in Ajit Singh, the recently retired Director General of Police from Rajasthan, at the age of 61. The announcement, appointing him in place of former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar - the exiting ACU head - comes on a day when one of Indian cricket's seniormost administrator, Prof Ratnakar Shetty, is also set to leave office.

March 31, 2018 was said to be Shetty's last day in office and - "funnily", as BCCI sources put it - nobody in the Board knew if Saturday was indeed his last day. Just to put it on record, BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary has twice written to the CoA requesting that given Shetty's long-standing experience. On Saturday, sources said, Shetty did not hear from either the CoA or any other official in the BCCI if it was indeed his last day in office.

A retired professor in Chemistry from Mumbai's Wilson College, Shetty has been associated with Mumbai cricket since 1985 and with the BCCI since 1996. "So much for not letting him even know if it was his last day and so much for not even bothering to give him a decent farewell. He's finished 33 years in the game, 22 years with BCCI alone. Funny what things have come to," said a prominent stakeholder in Indian cricket.

After coming on board post the January 2017 Supreme Court order, the CoA - as per mandate given by the court was to get the Lodha Committee reforms implemented - has gone on an appointment spree and the processes so far have bordered only on chaos.

As per the CoA's own directive, all employees of BCCI - they had announced - would have to retire at the age of 60. In the case of Shetty and Kumar, they were both past that age limit before the CoA came on board, only to be told some months ago that they would have to quit office.

"Now, someone please clarify if retirement age is 60 or 65 or any higher? For honorary administrators, it's 70, right? How is that so clearly mentioned?" say sources within BCCI, adding that CoA's style of functioning has simply been disorganised.

© TNN