Meet new BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia

Devajit Saikia was unanimously elected as the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India during the board's Special General Meeting in Mumbai on Sunday.

The 55-year-old replaces Jay Shah, who stepped down as BCCI secretary last month after being elected as the chairman of the International Cricket Council.
 
A former cricketer, Saikia represented Assam in four first-class matches during the 1990s before transitioning to cricket administration. He began his career in cricket administration as the general secretary of a cricket club in Assam under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the current chief minister of Assam.

Saikia was appointed as the advocate general (AG) of Assam in May 2021.

Last month, BCCI president Roger Binny named Saikia as the board’s acting secretary, sparking a controversy.

Senior Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, also the leader of the Opposition (LoP)

in the Assam Assembly, claimed that Saikia has violated constitutional norms by taking charge as the BCCI acting secretary and also as the director of the International Cricket Council last month.

In a letter to the Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Debabrata Saikia stated that advocate general "has violated the privileges of the House by taking a secretarial position along with a position of director which has several pecuniary and financial benefits by a foreign organisation (ICC) and a non-governmental organisation (BCCI) in violation of the principles of ‘office of profit’."

Debabrata Saikia also added that the AG’s appointment as BCCI secretary was violative of Rule 48 of the Bar Council of India Rules under Advocates Act, 1961, according to which "an advocate shall not be a managing director or a secretary of any company".

In response, Devajit Saikia denied any wrongdoing, as he stated that both the BCCI and ICC positions were honorary. "The basic thing is that the positions I am holding in BCCI and ICC are honourary posts. How does the question of 'office of profit' arise?"