‘BCCI passing through turbulent times’

BCCI president Shashank Manohar made a fervent appeal to board members ahead of its 86th annual general meeting for their support to decisions which, according to him, were needed to protect its autonomy during difficult times.

“My second term as the president is more challenging as the board is passing through turbulent times. It is necessary for all members to support certain decisions which are required to be taken to protect the interest of the board in maintaining its autonomy,” Manohar wrote in its annual report.

He talked of the difficult times the BCCI was passing through, apparently referring to the 2013 IPL scandal that resulted in the Supreme Court forming the Justice Mudgal panel to probe it, followed by the Justice Lodha panel which decided on quantum of punishment to those found guilty by the former panel.

“The BCCI needs to improve its efficiency and transparency in governance and a great deal of accountability is required from the members as to how BCCI funds are used,” he wrote.

He has mentioned that as a first step in this cleaning up operation to signal more transparency the board “has started sharing all information regarding rules and regulations on the BCCI website”.

Making a strong pitch for framing conflict of interest rules, all of which were subsequently passed by the general body unanimously as he announced after the AGM on Monday, he felt these were necessary to restore the cricket lovers’ faith.

“I seek your support to bring about certain amendments in the rules and regulations, frame rules of conflict of interest, frame rules for accreditation for player managers. I have to request you to make best endeavours to work towards eradicating corruption from the game of cricket at the state level and assist the BCCI in its efforts to restore the faith of the cricket-loving public in cricket,” Manohar wrote.

BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur, also touched upon the fact that the board had gone through tough phases with the previous year’s AGM having been put off “several times” before it was held on March 2, 2015 in his annual report.

Thakur has mentioned in the secretary’s report that the National Cricket Academy Committee “has also embarked on a coaching website and coaching applications for smart phones so that BCCI can take cricket to the grassroots level in a real sense.”

Reference has also been made in his report about engaging the media more in improving the image of the board.

“We have made a sincere effort to engage the print and electronic media to help build the image of the BCCI. There is regular flow of information and news, and relations with the media are structured in a spirit of partnership and professionalism. At the same time, BCCI presence on social media platforms is being significantly strengthened to connect directly with fans,” his report said.

Meanwhile, as per treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry “the surplus of income over expenditure (in 2014-15) was Rs 167 crores as against Rs 526 crores (in 2013-14), before any appropriation.

“In the current financial year 2015-16, the budgeted surplus is estimated at Rs 1,937 crores,” according to Chaudhry.

Gross receipts from international games for year ending March 31, 2015, was Rs 121 crore and from IPL Rs 1,000 crore as compared to Rs 194 crore and Rs 1,194 crore the previous fiscal.