Chandrakant Pandit likely to be charged with 'Conflict of Interest'

The current coach of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team Chandrakant Pandit has found himself in unchartered waters over ‘conflict of interest’ charges following an anonymous tip made by a ‘well-wisher’ of Mumbai cricket.

Pandit, who played 5 Tests and 36 ODIs during the 1980s and 90s has been the coach of the Mumbai Ranji team that famously clinched the most recent edition of the historic Ranji Trophy. The complaint has been lodged with Board Ombudsman Justice AP Shah.

“I feel this is clear violation of ‘One Man One Post’ rule which is laid down by Hon Supreme Court,” accuses the complainant, while alleging that Pandit was playing a ‘dual role’ of being the Mumbai coach and head coach of the MCA’s academy at the same time, which is prohibited under current BCCI rules. Pandit’s alleged dual role has been a hotly debated topic in the past couple of managing committee meetings of the MCA. “In our last meeting on Sunday, MCA president Sharad Pawar had asked former (India skipper and current MCA Vice-President Dilip Vengsarkar) to sort out the issue,” said MCA at secretary PV Shetty.

Shah was quoted by TOI saying, “I’ve sent notices to both the individuals concerned, and have apprised the BCCI about this. If need be, we will hear from the MCA too.”

Also read – Happy that my team is at the top of the table: Chris Gayle

Shah also made it clear that the withdrawal of a complaint against BCCI and DDCA vice-president CK Khanna has been rejected. “We’ve noted that the complainant (Gautam Datta) has been made the head of the DDCA ‘s legal cell after he withdrew his complaint. His withdrawal has thus been rejected. We’ll now act on his complaint, and on another one against Khanna by Kirti Azad,” Shah said.

“There’ve been many complaints against individuals in the DDCA and the DDCA as a whole. We’re in the process of sending notices to all the parties concerned,” informed the Ombudsman.