Diana Edulji and several State associations in the Board of Control for Cricket in India are not the only voices of dissent against the Committee of Administration chairman Vinod Rai’s handling of the sexual harassment allegations faced by the board CEO Rahul Johri.
BCCI officiating secretary Amitabh Chaudhary in an email to the Committee of Administrators has termed the formation of the three-member committee as “suspect” and in “violation of Hon’ble Supreme Court orders”.
The secretary in his mail, also copied to the officiating BCCI president CK Khanna and officiating treasures Anirudh Chaudhary, has accused the CoA chairman of dealing with the matter in “a most cavalier manner”.
Insidesport.co is in possession of a copy of the email, which states that “from the very beginning, the actions of the CoA did not inspire confidence”. Choudhary has also challenged Rai’s jurisdiction as the CoA Chairman to refer Johri’s case to the three-member independent inquiry committee when the other member Diana wanted the CeO out of the board in wake of the serious allegations.
“The Committee of Administrators was constituted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court as a four-member body and one of the members of the said committee was made the chairman convene its meetings and preside over them. The position of the Chairman was only that of first among equals and no additional or superior powers had or have been conferred upon the Chairman by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Presently, the committee comprises two members and both members are equal in status for all purposes. That being so, the Learned Chairman has no power or authority to prevail over the views of the other esteemed member and take decisions unilaterally on behalf of the CoA or on behalf of the BCCI,” states the email.
The officiating secretary has also questioned how the three-member independent committee was constituted and “who chose the members” while alleging that two of the three members in the committee do not qualify “in terms of the limitation of the age laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court”.
“In view of the clear divergence of views of the two members of the COA, the only recourse available was to refer the issue to either the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India or to the General Body,” said Choudhary, while fearing that the “three-member enquiry committee stricken with infirmities from its inception is hardly expected to dispense any real justice and is bound to be seen with great suspicion”.
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