Will 70-year-old Rai still attend BCCI meetings?

MUMBAI: Ever since he grew to become 70 on Wednesday, Committee of Administrators (CoA) head Vinod Rai has attracted "unwanted interest" in his age from the BCCI members, who have been barred from the Board once they touch 70, as per the Supreme Court-accepted Lodha reforms.

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While former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who has been disqualified from preserving any post or attending any committee meeting of the BCCI as he is above 70, was the first to wish "happy birthday" to Rai, in a message laced with sarcasm about age, any other BCCI member has questioned the "double standards" of the CoA head, making an allowance for that the CoA itself was meant to put in force the Lodha reforms.

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He revealed that during April, Rai sent a mail (a duplicate is with TOI) to BCCI appearing secretary Amitabh Choudhary, marking a duplicate to the entire office-bearers and officers in the Board, asking Choudhary to convene a meeting of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), in which nobody who's above 70 would be allowed.

"Now that he has turned 70, will Rai attend the meetings of the Board? Or are the rules different for the CoA, since it is governing the BCCI and was appointed by the SC," he puzzled.

Given under is the e-mail sent via Rai on April 20 to Choudhary.

"Please convene a meeting of the National Cricket Academy Board ("NCA Board") at the earliest to believe the following issues and supply its inputs thereon to the Committee of Administrators:

1. The proposed organization construction for National Cricket Academy and the will for the ones positions which have not already been licensed via the Committee of Administrators.

2. The draft proposal in relation to the facilities at the new National Cricket Academy campus.

three. The suggestion of forming a separate committee for the purpose of overseeing the process of putting in the brand new National Cricket Academy.

Please observe that all the way through its meeting held on 12th April 2018, the COA has decided that individuals who draw in the following disqualifications shall not be authorized to be part of any Committee/ Sub-Committee of BCCI (together with however not restricted to the NCA Board):

(a) A person who is not electorate of India;

(b) A person who has attained the age of 70 years;

(c) A person who has is declared to be insolvent, or of unsound mind;

(d) A person who's a Minister or govt servant;

(e) A person who holds any workplace or post in a sports activities or athletic affiliation or federation except for cricket;

(f) A person who has been an Office Bearer of the BCCI for a cumulative period of 9 years; and

(g) A person who has been charged via a Court of Law for having dedicated any felony offence.