Ganguly, Shirke left in the cold

New Delhi: Sacked Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Ajay Shirke cannot be Maharashtra Cricket Association's representative in BCCI meetings, the Lodha committee made it clear on Thursday in a seven-point response to queries on the administrative reforms made mandatory for the Board.

There was not much to cheer for Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly either because come June 2017, he will have to go for a compulsory 'Cooling off' of three years having completed three years at the state association as secretary and president. It was also clarified that total tenure in cricket administration (state association plus BCCI) will be nine years cumulative and not 18 years as it was mentioned earlier.

The administrative career of CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey also ends, as the post of an assistant secretary that he held for two years, will be deemed as an office-bearer's post, which makes his cumulative state association tenure of 10 years.

The question pertaining to Shirke's entry was the second among Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Can a disqualified Office Bearer act as the representative/nominee of a Member Association or the BCCI? “Can such an individual discharge any other role in or on behalf of the Association or the BCCI?
The answer stated: "He/She is disqualified from being a representative or nominee of the member association or the BCCI and Cannot discharge any other role in or behalf of the association or the BCCI. He/She cannot function within the association in any patron or advisory capacity nor be a member of a committee or council."

The FAQ No 7 was directly related to Ganguly, whose name was doing rounds for the new BCCI president's post. While he can be a BCCI president but it would only be for a few months if one interprets Lodha Panel's answer properly.

The FAQ No 7 states: "If an individual has been an existing office bearer in a State/Member Association for two years, is he eligible to contest for the next elections without the three year cooling off period applying to him? If yes, what will be the term of his office?
A question concerned Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) and Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) which are set to have their elections.

The clarification was "If the constitution/bylaws of the state/member association has defined the post (assistant secretary, assistant treasurer, director etc) as an office-bearer post, then the tenure of an individual in any of those posts will be reckoned while determining whether the nine-year period has been completed.

"For example, in an association where the Constitution refers to the Assistant treasurer as office-bearer if a person has occupied that post for three years and also been secretary for six years, he stands disqualified."

The issues pertaining to elections in state associations and the answer makes it clear that if associations don't have pending cases against them, they can go ahead with elections conforming to the new set of reforms.

The most commonly asked question was about how the nine-year tenure would be calculated. The committee made it clear that even a nine-year term in state association would mean end of the road in cricket administration.