Apex Court informed about historian’s decision
New Delhi: Historian Ramachandra Guha, appointed by the Supreme Court as one of the four administrators of BCCI, informed the court Thursday that he had resigned from the post due to personal reasons.
A vacation bench of Justices MM Shantanagoudar and Deepak Gupta was informed by Guha’s counsel that he had tendered his resignation May 28 to Vinod Rai, chairman of the committee of administrators (COA) of BCCI.
The court said a special bench was seized of the matter and the petition should therefore be filed in the registry. The apex court had formed the committee January 30, this year. The other members of the panel were Vikram Limaye and Diana Eduljee.
Even though Guha has cited personal reasons but his resignation from the CoA could be linked to the speculation surrounding Anil Kumble’s future as India coach.
The CoA, it is learnt, has been left stunned by Guha’s submission in the Supreme Court that he has resigned due to personal reasons. It has been learnt that Guha didn’t discuss his resignation with any of his COA colleagues although his submission to the Supreme Court states that he had intimated committee head Vinod Rai.
“No, I had no clue about his resignation as he never told me anything about it. I only came to know from media,” a CoA member told this agency, Thursday.
The acclaimed historian has had little time for the CoA and didn’t attend half of its meetings due to his academic commitments.
To be fair, Guha, Rai or Limaye have charged a single penny from the BCCI even though they are entitled to a payment of Rs 1,00,000 per person per working day.
“He has a thorough knowledge of sports history and is a learned man. But running cricket administration is a different ballgame. In any case, whether it’s ICC or BCCI matters, it’s Rai and Limaye, who were doing the hard yards,” a senior BCCI official, said after learning about Guha’s resignation.
Many in BCCI feel that Guha’s proximity to Kumble may also be one of the reasons as the historian was one of the brains behind the revamped pay structure idea.
And now with Kumble on a sticky wicket and impasse in BCCI unlikely to be over anytime soon, Guha may have considered it prudent to walk away.
“One is right that Anil Kumble did not voluntarily ask for pay hike. He was certainly told by CoA to give a presentation. But the seeds of this idea were sown during the BCCI Annual Awards function in Bangalore.
“Guha was one of the advocates of hike but he was clueless about percentages and rationale that goes in financial dealings,” the BCCI official pointed out.
PTI