Former Board president I.S. Bindra, on Thursday, called for action against erring officials, and not just the players, in connection with the spot fixing scandal that impacted the image of the game and the administration.
Attacking the Board on his blog, Bindra disagrees with Jagmohan Dalmiya who, he says, is blaming the players alone for the ills of the Indian Premier League. He also accuses the Board of distorting the minutes of the working committee meeting here on Monday.
“In the meeting Mr. (Jagmohan) Dalmiya had read out from a prepared text to state that the mobile telephones of players should be impounded before they enter the dressing rooms, and also ask them to furnish their bank accounts and other telephone numbers.
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He thundered that cheerleaders, after-match parties and owners’ entry to the dug outs should be banned from both the IPL as well as the upcoming Champions League,” he writes.
“During the course of discussions, I observed that we should not give the impression that the players are solely responsible for all malefactions and corruption in the game. I suggested that we should start the clean-up operations at the very top and the administrators should set the example by agreeing for public probity, thus standing up for ethical behaviour and higher moral standards.”
“This certainly is not the institution which was once the pride and envy of not only the cricketing world but also the entire sports world for the way its visionary administrators conducted themselves,” he writes. “The (a)dministrators, facing serious charges of conflict of interests, have no moral right to set standards for players and ask only them to be above board.
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“There should be constant interaction with the cricket-loving public and accept tangible and worthwhile suggestions from them.”
Fudged
According to Bindra, the Board’s joint secretary Anurag Thakur fudged the minutes of the meeting.
“As usual, the Media release of the (June 8) Working Committee meeting of the Indian cricket board in Delhi does not reflect actual deliberations/discussion and decisions.
Going by the contents of the release put out by the board’s joint secretary, it appears he was attending a meeting which was different from the one attended by a majority of members!”
Bindra also points out that the working committee had no hand in appointing the secretary and treasurer.
“Sanjay Patel (as secretary) was already sitting on the Treasury bench and he glibly blurted out that he got his appointment letter from the President (N. Srinivasan) who had ‘very graciously agreed to step aside.’
“As regards Ravi Sawant (as treasurer), the Working Committee was of the view that it had no power to make a recommendation/decision as it was obviously tutored to obviate public criticism about N. Srinivasan taking all decisions.”
Bindra also raises objections at the constitution of the probe panel by the IPL Operational Panel. He blames Board vice-president Arun Jaitley, for it. “It seems Arun Jaitley’s concept of post facto legitimising patent illegalities has led to the tutoring ( sic ) of minutes.”