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Modi ousted from BCCI, Dalmiya back

By Harish Kotian
September 29, 2010

Chirayu Amin will replace Lalit Modi as chairman of the Indian Premier League, while Jagmohan Dalmiya returns to the Board of Control for Cricket in India after his explusion was revoked.

These decisions were taken at the Board of Control for Cricket in India's Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Anurag Thakur, Ranjeeb Biswal, Ajay Shirke, Rajiv Shukla, Ravi Shastri and Arun Jaitley were confirmed as members of the revamped the IPL Governing Council, while the nomination of another cricketer in the panel is yet to be confirmed.

"There would be one chairman of the sub-committee, five members and two cricketers. As far as the IPL Governing Council is concerned, earlier the cricketers were paid one crore for being a member on the Governing Council; however the Board decided that no payments would be made to the cricketers," BCCI president Shashank Manohar said in Mumbai.

Asked about reports that Gavaskar had opted out of the honorary post, Manohar said the BCCI had still not spoken to the former India opener.

"Who said he is not included? We haven't spoken to him because we have to talk to them before we appoint them. Earlier they were paid one crore for being on the Governing Council, but now they have to work honorary, so we have to get their consent.

"It was because all these things were subject to clearance of the amendment. If the amendment would have failed there was no question of appointing a fresh Governing Council," he added.

The other appointments approved by the members were: Jyotirao Scindia, as chairman of finance committee; Farooq Abdullah, head of the marketing committee, and Anil Kumble, chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.

In a major surprise, the BCCI withdrew the fund embezzlement case filed against Dalmiya in the Bombay High Court and revoked the expulsion imposed on him in 2006.

"We haven't dropped any charges against Dalmiya. The prosecution was filed by the State; it is not for the Board to drop the charges. It is a state case. What we have done is that we have withdrawn the civil suit filed against Dalmiya, because it was based on an entry in the account books.

"The matter is going on for last three years and Board is spending money, time and energy for that litigation, so we asked for opinions from two experts. One is a retired Supreme Court judge, Manoj Mukherjee, and other is Soli Sorabjee; both of them opined that there is very little chance of the Board succeeding in this civil suit.

"And it was felt unnecessary that we go on spending money on a litigation which we are not going to succeed and that is why we withdrew the civil suit filed against Dalmiya.

"On that, Dalmiya made an application to the Board for revocation of his expulsion. There is a provision under the Board constitution under clause 32 (6) that a person who has been expelled has the right to make an application for re-entry after three years. That application was considered by the Board; it was felt that as it is after the expulsion that Dalmiya has got an order from the court staying his expulsion. With the result, and as I always say, we have no grievances against individuals, we don't fight for egos. So when Dalmiya is sitting there for three years it is no point that we just on paper continue his expulsion; therefore we withdrew the expulsion," Manohar added.

Dalmiya said he felt vindicated by the decision.

"I have all along been committed to the fair administration of the game of cricket. I would like to thank the BCCI and its members for acting fairly," he added.

Show cause notice to 3 IPL teams

The BCCI also decided to issue show cause notices to three Indian Premier League franchises on various charges.

"The Board has further decided to issue showcause notices to three franchises -- Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab and Kochi for various irregularities committed by them during the period of their contract," Manohar said.

With the new auction set for November, the BCCI is keen to solve the ownership issues related to the three teams.

While there is no clarity on the ownership of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the BCCI has decided to issue a notice to IPL Kochi also because of their infighting and failure in revealing their owndership pattern.

The BCCI has given the three franchises three days to reply.

Manohar gave details on the disputes within the owners of the Kochi franchise and made it clear that if the situation does not improve their contract would be cancelled.

"As far as Kochi franchise is concerned, when the bid was given, the bid was given by individuals who came together and formed a consortium. Now there is no legal entity as such which is incorporated. So we asked them to incorporate a company, a joint venture company and then come to the Board. They haven't incorporated a company and they have a recent dispute between the five persons who are there in the consortium with regards to the shares, sweat equity and other things.

"Therefore, they are not able to resolve those issues. Both the groups have sent letters to the Board saying not to recognise the other group and you recognise only me. Therefore, in such a scenario, the Board cannot work with such a franchise.

"We will issue them a notice and give them a time frame that you have to incorporate your company with this time frame otherwise we are going to cancel this franchise because we can't work with groups within a franchise. We might play with nine teams or eight teams, we don't know," Manohar added.

The Dalmiya-BCCI stand off started in 2004, when his casting vote helped Ranbir Singh Mahendra beat Sharad Pawar in an acrimonious election.

Later, when Pawar came to power in the BCCI, Dalmiya was banned from its meetings and an FIR was filed against him in 2006, accusing him of embezzling the 1996 World Cup funds, forcing him to step down as Cricket Association of Bengal president.

After a year-long legal battle, Dalmiya was allowed to contest elections again and he won back the CAB presidency by an overwhelming margin in 2008.

However, in March 2008, he was arrested in connection with misappropriation of BCCI funds and later released on bail. According to the police, Dalmiya misused Rs 2.90 crore from a bank account meant for the 1996 World Cup.

Other major decisions at the AGM:

IPL Governing Council's term cut from five years to one.

The Governing Council will comprise one chairman, five members and two cricketers.

Earlier, cricketers in the Governing Council were paid one crore, but, henceforth, they will work on an honorary position.

Manohar said, "Modi has been ousted and is out of the board; he can no longer address himself as suspended IPL chairman/commissioner."

Manohar also revealed that the BCCI secretary is the only person authorized to sign contracts on behalf of the board.

"The members were also briefed with regards to further irregularities in the conduct of the IPL 2010. There are certain instances which have come to notice of the Board with regards to Ticketgenie, Visual Impact as also the Viacom deal and Zoom Communications. All the deals were informed to the house. The house decided to cancel all these deals and transactions entered into by Lalit Modi," he said.

The senior selection committee will remain the same because the Board felt they had to maintain continuity with the World Cup coming up next year.

Harish Kotian in Mumbai

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