The Transparency International, Pakistan, has been suggesting remedies to wipe out corruption, nepotism and misdoing by various government departments and semi-government organisations, but the alleged wrongdoing of the ad hoc administration of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have not attracted their attention so far.
Way back in early seventies former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP) A. Hafeez Karadar got registered the BCCP with the then Corporate Law Authority as a company with its general body and the executive committee members as its directors.
This was revealed by former PCB Chief Executive Arif Ali Khan Abbasi while talking to Business Recorder. Under the memorandum of article, there was no provision for an ad hoc committee, hence the existence of the present ad hoc PCB set-up should be termed illegal and the actions and taken by it, were in clear violation of the SECP rules and regulations, said Abbasi.
With the change in nomenclature of the CLA as Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and renaming of the BCCP as PCB, the Cricket Board's status as a registered company remained intact, he said.
He said the ad hoc administration bosses were, perhaps, aware of their legal position and afraid of a sou moto action the SECP might take, they tried to get the PCB deregistered.
Arif Abbasi said the ad hoc committee had no authority to get the PCB deregisterd with the SECP as an elected board of director, comprising an elected executive committee, could, of course with the consent of the general body with two-thirds majority votes, recommend deregistration of the Cricket Board as gauranteed in the memorandum of article.
While the ad hoc administration denies PCB's registration with SECP, Arif Abbasi said in the absence of an elected executive committee or the general body, how could the ad hoc committee venture to get the Cricket Board deregistered, and insisted that there was no change in the PCB status as a registered company with the SECP.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT;
However, it is food for thought for the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, especially Senator Enver Baig, who is very vocal about the working of the Cricket Board, to take up the matter with the concerned authorities.
Referring to the draft constitution, Abbasi said it was again a clear violation of the SECP rules and regulations, as only the general body could amend the board's constitution.
He said the very concept of ad hocism was to correct the wrongs done in an organisation in the shortest possible time, but when the system was stretched beyond reasonable time, it started showing negative results. Similar is the case of PCB, which is being run by an ad hoc committee.
FIRST PRIORITY:
Since July 1999, Shaharyar Khan is the third PCB chief, whose first priority was to give a new constitution to the Cricket Board, hence he, not believing in the democratic process, appointed a constitution committee, headed by Justice Karamat Nazir Bhandari, to frame a new constitution for the PCB.
However, the committee prepared a draft, which after changes, of course, by the PCB chief himself was sent to the PCB patron for approval about six months ago.
The proposed constitution is lying on the table of President General Pervez Musharraf and no one in the country knows when the new constitution will see the light of the day.
But one thing is clear the ad hoc system will complete at least a decade, which was indicated by Shaharyar Khan himself that he was appointed by the chief patron for three years. A few months back when the rumours for a change in the PCB set-up were rife, Shaharyar referred to a notification, and said: "It is up to the patron to take any decision."
Since President Musharraf, already over-burdened with the national and international issues, Kashmir and Afghanistan, it is, therefore, not possible for him to go through the draft of the new PCB constitution.
Taking advantage of the chief patron's busy schedule, the ad hoc administration bosses are taking decisions according to their whims.
In the absence of a new constitution, the PCB ad hoc administration is using certain clauses of the suspended constitution to penalise the affiliated regional bodies, opposing the present PCB set-up and its bosses.
POWER TUSSLE:
According to insiders, the PCB chief and Operations Director Salim Altaf are at loggerheads. The sources said the PCB chief never took into consideration the suggestions of Salim Altaf and took every decision on his own.
In this situation, one wonders why Salim Altaf, a former Test cricketer and a medium-pacer of note, is glued to his seat when he has no say in the decision-making process. The reason obviously is high salary and perks, including frequent foreign travelling.
But the present set-up, not in agreement with the democratic norms, believes in typical autocratic and bureaucratic system, least bothering about the implications of their undemocratic actions.
So wait for the outcome of the 2007 World Cup, which may decide the fate of the ad hoc committee and its chairman.
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