Kapil clarifies his stand in 'Conflict of Interest' saga

'What is conflict of interest? It is a conflict if you have a permanent job, if you are called for a meeting then it does not amount to conflict.'

Former India captain Kapil Dev, who resigned from the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) after allegations of conflict of interest were levelled against him, on Thursday said performing a role in honorary capacity cannot be conflicted with a professional cricketing job.

The three-members of the Kapil-led CAC, which picked the current's men coach Ravi Shastri, were served a notice by the BCCI ethics officer to respond to the conflict of interest claim made
by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association life member Sanjiv Gupta. The other two CAC members, Shantha Rangaswamy and Anshuman Gaekwad, also resigned after getting the notice.

"What is conflict of interest? It is a conflict if you have a permanent job, if you are called for a meeting then it does not amount to conflict."

"If you are on a payroll, then it is a conflict. For one meeting, that can't be conflict. If you do an honorary job for one meeting that cannot be conflict," Kapil said when asked about the contentious issue.

Batting greats Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were all served notice over allegations of conflict of interest.

Kapil also took an indirect dig at people who were filing complaints and dubbed them as "negative".

"I don't know, you should ask the question to those who are giving these notices. There are some people who are negative in life, they don't have to do positive work, they only think in a negative way and for them it is good."

He also hopes good things for the game with Indian Cricketers' Association finally coming into being.

"Look, whatever is there, I hope it is good for cricket, that's all. You and I want this (to happen)," he said.