Remaking the board

Remaking the board

Why work like a salaried professional when you can run bills running into crores in an honorary position? The Committee of Administrators, in its status report on the implementation of the Lodha committee recommendations, has shown that the BCCI is a rather indulgent paymaster. The Indian cricket board steadfastly refuses to turn professional despite valiant attempts by the Supreme Court.
In the last two years, the board has bled Rs 4.62 crore on the travel expenses of office-bearers, Rs 3.23 crore on just a couple of them. And it is not only the officials but their assistants too who have enjoyed the generous daily allowances and travel expenses. With the board bearing the cost of air travel, hotel, airport transfers, food and the local commute, why are officials paid $ 700 as daily allowance? To put that figure in perspective, the Indian cricketer gets only $125 as DA.
There are questions of accountability here. It’s time to get in the professionals who get paid to do the job. All talk of serving for the love of the sport sounds false. It’s a pattern that keeps repeating. When questions arose against the panel consisting of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman who selected the Indian coach, they tried to evade accountability by saying they were doing their best in an honorary position.
The CoA has spoken about the need to delineate functions in a way that a professional management of full-time employees takes care of the everyday functioning of the board, and office-bearers who are rotated out. It makes no sense for an official to decide everything from broadcast deals to looking after players’ needs. It’s time to bring in a leaner system within the board, so that resources are used more judiciously.