KSCA plans to skip BCCI Annual Awards and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Lecture

The BCCI Annual Awards Ceremony and the 5th edition of the Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi lecture scheduled to take place on March 8 has been called off by the organizing body. A baffled Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) took no time and blasted the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) for violating their brief, in a letter to Rahul Johri, the CEO the BCCI.

“The fact that the Committee of Administrators who have blatantly overstepped their roles far overreaching the directions of the Supreme Court do not understand the very meaning of an annual awards function pertaining to cricket and an invitation to the same” wrote KSCA President and Secretary Sanjay Desai and Sudhakar Rao to Rahul Johri.

Fuming on the “ineligible” people in charge, Indian Express quoted them stating: “We call upon your-self (Johri) to please inform the Committee of Administrators that the KSCA will not accept such a humiliation and as a mark of protest, will boycott the said function though cricket and cricketers are dear to our heart.”

The letter also describes how the elected BCCI officials are not proficient enough to handle the BCCI Annuals Awards Ceremony according to the KSCA, while after a second thought the likes of Anurag Thakur, Ajay Shirke, Amitabh Choudhary and Anirudh Choudhary might be given the gate pass for the function.

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The invitation made it crystal clear that “only those office bearers who are qualified as per the Supreme Court orders are expected to attend the function”, which has offended a handful of BCCI officials as they consider it to be “rude” and “undiplomatic.

The KSCA has also taken a dig at N Ram, who picked the award winners by questioning his presence. “Also, a point to note is the irony that Mr N Ram whom we all respect immensely is way above the above the age of seventy years was nominated to the Committee which selected the award winners for this function by the Committee of Administrators,” the letter said.

An interim application has already been registered by BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary accompanied by a few other state associations with the argument that the conduct of CoA is contrary to the decision taken by the Supreme Court. The apex court in its January 30 order directed the CoA to supervise the BCCI functioning as it announced the appointment of the independent administrators to implement the Lodha reforms. As for now, the matter is scheduled to be heard and justified on Monday.