Affiliation of bifurcated units soon
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to amend its Memorandum of Rules and Regulations and grant expeditious affiliation to bifurcated state units so that they can play in the 2002-2003 domestic season.
Briefing newspersons after the two-day Working Committee
meeting in Kolkata on Thursday, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya
said a Special General Meeting would be convened sometime in
the second week of July to take necessary action on the issue.
"The Working Committee has recommended that a Special
General Meeting be convened so that the relevant rules can be amended to facilitate participation of as many teams as
possible," Dalmiya said.
He said the BCCI has already received applications from several
associations, including the newly-formed states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, for affiliation.
"The present rules are such that there is no provision
for affiliation of bifurcated states. The present rules lay
down a rather lengthy procedure for affiliation, and if the
same were followed, these states will be deprived of playing
in the ensuing season," he said.
Dalmiya, however, clarified that granting full membership
to the new entrants would depend purely on the cricketing
standard of a particular unit.
He said the special committee, formed by the board to assess the credentials and cricketing ability of the applicants,
had already visited the various centres and inspected the
prevalent conditions. The committee comprised former Test
cricketer Shivlal Yadav and R S Shetty, and executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar, as convenor.
"If necessary they will again go to the centres," Dalmiya
said.
The BCCI also decided to hold new tournaments at the
junior (under-15, under-17 and under-19) level for its
associate members to help them improve their standard.
Besides the new associate entrants, the tournament will feature existing associate members Sikkim and Manipur.
"We will work out the details only after a decision is
taken on the categories of membership granted to the
bifurcated units," Dalmiya said.
The board said it would extend all infrastructural facilities to organise the tournament.
The Working Committee also approved in principle the
introduction of a new summer (day/night) tournament
featuring the corporate sector in centres having floodlight
arragements.
"We will try to hold the tournament this year itself. But
if that is not possible, we will definitely organise it from
next year," he added.
Mail Cricket Editor