The BCCI has granted a three-month extension to General Manager (Game Development) Ratnakar Shetty.
Earlier, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had said that it would not extend Shetty's contract beyond March 31.
However, BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary now confirmed that they had managed to convince CoA to keep Shetty at the post until June 30.
Chaudhary conveyed the message to Shetty through an e-mail.
"As you are aware, your contract with BCCI was initially to expire on the 30th September 2017. However, during the meeting of the Hon'ble Committee of Administrators held in Mumbai on 27th September 2017, the Committee had decided to extend your contract with the BCCI till 31st December 2017 on the same terms and conditions and you were informed of the said decision during the said meeting itself," he informed.
"Thereafter, in a meeting of the Hon'ble Committee of Administrators held on 12th December 2017, the extension of your contract till the 30th of June 2018 had been considered and subsequently the Committee had decided to extend your contract till the 31st of March 2018. The Committee had recognized your invaluable services to the BCCI over the years and also acknowledged the benefit they had availed of your knowledge and experience in the discharge of its duties."
"The Office Bearers of the BCCI jointly concur with the Hon'ble Committee in recognising your invaluable services to the BCCI and also recognise the immense value that you add to the organisation with your knowledge and experience of cricket administration and feel that it would be imperative for the organisation to have the benefit of your services during this period of transformation. Accordingly, your contract is being further extended till the 30th of June 2018 on behalf of the Board on the same terms and conditions," the mail concluded.
It should be noticed that Shetty is one of the longest serving administrators in the board. His contract was initially due to expire on September 30, but later it was extended till December 31 following a meeting of the CoA in Mumbai.
Later, the Supreme Court-appointed committee considered extending his contract till June 30, 2018 before they subsequently decided to push his contract till March 30, 2018.
Kapoor replaces Prasad in BCCI Jr Selection Panel
Former India player Aashish Kapoor was today named as a replacement of Venkatesh Prasad in the three-member All-India Junior Selection Committee of the BCCI.
Kapoor was a part of the original five-member panel selected in 2016 but was later kept out as BCCI pruned it to three as per Lodha panel diktat.
"Since selectors can only be replaced in an AGM, BCCI for past one year has been paying Kapoor his monthly salary. When Prasad resigned, it was only natural that Kapoor comes back in the panel. Since he has played international cricket, he was preferred over Amit Sharma," a senior BCCI official told PTI today.
Gyanendra Pandey and Rakesh Parikh are the other two members of the selection panel.
A former off-spinner, Kapoor played four Tests and 17 ODIs for India, including the 1996 ICC World Cup. He has also played 128 first-class games and 93 List A matches.
"I wish him all the very best for this endeavour. I am sure he has a lot to offer when it comes to being a part of the junior selection committee with his varied expertise and experience in the game. India have a rich talent pool and it is important to identify the talent at a young age and nurture them," BCCI Acting President CK Khanna said in a release.
Former India seamer Venkatesh Prasad tendered his resignation from the post of chairman junior national selection committee last month after the country won the U-19 World Cup. He joined Kings XI Punjab as the bowling coach and resigned citing a case of potential conflict of interest.
We have to honour court's direction: MCA official
A senior Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) official on Tuesday said that it will honour the Bombay High Court direction, seeking names of administrators to be appointed for the management of its affairs.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the MCA to submit by Wednesday the names of one or more retired judges of the Supreme Court, or the Bombay High Court, who can then be appointed as administrators to manage its affairs.
The directions came after the MCA told a bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and M S Karnik that it was willing to implement the Lodha Committee's recommendations, and had called for a meeting on April 16.
"There is nothing wrong in that (direction). We have to accept it, we have to honour that judgement (direction) and if we are eligible, we are ready to work under them," a senior MCA official told PTI.
Meanwhile, former MCA Managing Committee member Ravi Mandrekar termed the judgement as "fantastic".
"Fantastic (decision), the Judges realised that MCA is unnecessarily delaying adopting the Lodha report," quipped Mandrekar.
The court took note of the suggestion of the BCCI to follow the model adopted by the Delhi High Court and the Andhra Pradesh High Court of appointing administrators for the Delhi and Hyderabad cricket associations, respectively.
The bench was hearing a writ petition seeking that the MCA's managing committee be dissolved over non-implementation of the recommendations made in the Justice R M Lodha Committee report.
The petition has been filed by Nadeem Memon, a member of one of the sports clubs under the MCA.
