The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary will not sign the appointment letter of General Manager (Marketing) as the appointment is not in line with the Lodha Committee recommendations.
Choudhary also has issues with the procedures followed for appointment of BCCI’s General Manager (Marketing) Priya Gupta. He has also questioned the newly-appointed GM’s lack of experience to qualify for the high profile and responsible office in the BCCI.
Choudhary has also written to the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri that the Justice Lodha committee did not even recommend the position of a GM Marketing in the BCCI.
The BCCI acting secretary, in his email, has also referred to the Lodha committee recommendations, stating: “There would be a maximum of six managers to assist the CEO, who would have expertise primarily in the streams of operations, finance, technical, compliance (legal), human resources and media.
“Clearly, the need for Marketing Manager in an institution like BCCI was not felt to be of primary concern even by the Hon’ble Justice Lodha Committee. Besides, even the six positions enumerated above are of Manager and not General Manager level, as is the case in the instant matter. In my view, deviation from the recommendations cannot be justified merely because the decision was taken in a CoA meeting, more particularly when the appointment is not being made on the post of Manager but a General Manager.”
Choudhary has also raised the issue of lack of transparency in the process of the GM’s appointment. “It is now well accepted that one of the basic reasons for the constitution of the Lodha panel was to bring in greater transparency in the affairs of the BCCI. From your description of the process and observations made above it can hardly be said that the process followed was transparent inter alia because the elected representatives of the organisation, which is going to pay for the proposed executive, were unaware of what transpired in the preliminary or subsequent interviews for a post that is not a part of the Justice Lodha recommendation,” Choudhary has stated in his email.
However, if Choudhary sticks to his stand and does not sign the appointment letter, the CoA may direct the BCCI CEO Johri or General Manager, Cricket Operations, Saba Karim to sign the appointment letter.
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