The tenure of the selection committee and office-bearers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India will be extended to two years from September, when the annual elections are held, with the provision for re-election for an additional year.

The Board's Special General Meeting in Mumbai on Thursday also decided that each of its affiliated units would start a wing to promote women's cricket.

A decision on the Jharkhand-Bihar controversy was deferred and a three-member committee appointed to tackle the issue.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar [Images], who chaired the meeting, was authorized to decide on the formation of various committees for the 2011 World Cup, which India will jointly host with Pakistan, Sri Lanka [Images] and Bangladesh.

"All these decisions were taken unanimously and no voting took place," BCCI vice-president Shashank Manohar told newspersons.

Explaining the decisions taken at the meeting, Manohar said the term for office-bearers and selectors, presently one year, will henceforth be two years, with the provision for re-election for an additional year, depending on performance.

"It has also been decided that the candidate standing for presidentship and vice-presidentship should be proposed by a member from the same zone which he represents though the seconder could be from outside the zone," Manohar said.

"There's no provision to remove an office-bearer at present through a no-confidence motion and that's the reason for opting for an extension of their term to the third year through re-elections," he explained.

"If their performance is not satisfactory another person from the same zone can be elected for the third year," Manohar said.

"It has also been decided by the special GM that the chairman would have an additional vote during elections, as at present. This has been mired in controversy over the last four or five years," the BCCI vice-president pointed out.

Two years back, Pawar was defeated by Ranbir Singh Mahendra because of the chairman's vote. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the then president, had voted for his candidate, Mahendra.

The meeting also decided to change the provisions of its constitution to give effect to its working committee's decision to help talented young sportspersons in sports disciplines other than cricket to train overseas.

"We have not decided upon the amount to be earmarked for the purpose, though the last working committee had fixed it at Rs 50 crore. It can be even 100 crore, but first we had to make suitable amendments to our constitution to make this possible, which we did today," he said.

"We will give it to the concerned sportspersons directly and not through a particular sports federation, as we don't yet know how they function," he added.

Manohar made it clear that the BCCI would not have a women's wing, but the units affiliated to it would have one each to run women's cricket after a year's time.

"We will allow the existing women's cricket associations to conduct their affairs for the next year and would give them financial and other assistance. After that period they will have to wind up. It's up to them whether to accept our decision or not," Manohar said.