With Islamabad High Court setting stringent rules for new PCB Chairman candidates, head of the ad hoc committee Najam Sethi may have to resign from his post as he fails to fit into the new eligibility criteria.
The IHC judge, while announcing new polls date of November 2, ruled on Monday that the candidates should be graduates, must have played Test or First-class cricket and headed a regional cricket association, making Mr. Sethi ineligible to contest for the post of PCB chairman.
“Apparently Mr. Sethi has no option but to follow the court’s direction to hold the election to choose new regular PCB chairman. However, he may challenge the IHC decision in the Supreme Court to get relief,” a PCB official told PTI on Tuesday.
He said Mr. Sethi is consulting with other ad hoc committee members and the legal team of PCB before he makes up his mind to adopt a legal course to retain his position.
Earlier, to save Mr. Sethi from the contempt of court proceeding for not holding election for a full fledged PCB chairman, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formed an Interim Management Committee (IMC) for three months to run the day to day affairs of the PCB.
The five-member committee comprises Sethi, former PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and ex-Pakistan team manager Naveed Akram Cheema and former Test cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Haroon Rasheed.
The other four members unanimously elected Mr. Sethi the committee’s chairman. Reportedly an undertaking was taken from them before their nomination that they would vote for Mr. Sethi.
When Mr. Sethi had taken the charge of ‘caretaker’ PCB chairman some three months ago he had said he would only “stay in office for a month or so” before a full time chairman takes over.
