THE AJY SHIRKE INTERVIEW

 

New BCCI secretary says the Board could lose up to 70% revenue if Lodha Committee recommendations are implemented

 

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, Outlookindia.com

 

Maharasthra Cricket Association president Ajay Shirke is also a business tycoon who alternates between Pune and London. As BCCI treasurer he resigned at the height of the 2013 IPL betting-fixing scandal as he disagreed with then president N. Srinivasan on some issues. An extremely suave and articulate person, Shirke is also known for speaking his mind, as does during an interview with Qaiser Mohammad Ali. Excerpts:

Why has BCCI come to a stage where is facing so much humiliation?

This stage has obviously come due to the original IPL match-fixing scandal and the resultant approach of some BCCI officials. In fact, the Lodha Committee’s judgement has come because of a petition filed by the BCCI [in Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court order of 2013 that dismissed a Board-appointed probe panel for IPL scandal as unconstitutional]. In a way we’ve brought it upon ourselves. That’s why, if you now put things together, we made a very big mistake at that point in time.

So, are the BCCI and its officials to be blamed for the present situation?

BCCI officials have to be blamed. Not the current ones but who were there during that time [in 2013]. This was a direction in which I saw things were going, there was no point fighting with the [BCCI] president who had appointed me and so I chose to leave.

Will this litigation impact players, especially members of the national team?

Some of them may. Some [litigation] are there and some litigations are impending. Now, STAR India Ltd. has given the Board a notice, following the Lodha Committee recommendations, that they might not honour the contract with the BCCI because of the proposed restrictions on advertisements [during live telecast of matches].

But the court is yet to come out with the final order?

Correct. But if the court says fully implement the recommendations then where will be the money to pay to cricketers? So, it’ll affect cricketers in a big way, also ex-cricketers and everyone else. By making a recommendation like that would cut the Board’s revenue by about 68% to about 70%. So, how will we run the various healthcare scheme, the pension scheme, the benefit scheme? Where will the money come from? Ultimately cricketers, their families…everyone will be affected. And again one has to ask the question in all humility: How does chopping off advertising make BCCI a better organisation?

Why do you think the courts seem to have become a bit tough on the BCCI?

During the period of protracted legal process, there was a time when Mr. N.Srinivasan was there, then he didn’t resign, then he stepped aside, then Dalmiya came in, and all the other things happened. A lot of Lodha Committee report is down to perception and not fact. For instance, how is the management going to improve by removing Maharashtra, Vidharba, Baroda and Saurashtra?

How do you visualise the outcome of this case and what it could lead to?

The outcome of any court case cannot be predicted because the court will have several ways to arrive at a conclusion. They may be based on legal, moral, ethical; so many angles can be given to it. And who would’ve thought except a few of us that making this extended and protracted litigation and, at the same time, getting a hammering in the media every day will get an order against us in a petition that the Board itself filed.  

Will the BCCI change forever, then? 

If change means the full implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations then it’ll be anybody’s guess what will happen to the BCCI. First, you will get new members who’ll have no history or connection to the sport. There is a big fallacy in this.  

How do you see the impact of Manohar’s departure from the BCCI at this juncture?

It’s a big loss to us but the Board is capable of finding a way and it has always found a solution from within itself.