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Monday, Jul 03, 2006

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CAB general body meeting called off

Principal Correspondent

Kolkata: The general body meeting called by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya failed to deliberate on his future in the State body as the meeting was called off soon after it started.

The meeting was convened to appraise the members of the West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's message, conveyed through the State sports minister Subhas Chakraborty, requesting Dalmiya not to seek another term in office. While Dalmiya officially conveyed the chief minister's message to the house — which saw 116 members out of a total of 121 turning up - the discussion on the matter was not allowed as some members objected to saying that the forum could not be used to discuss personal issues.

Addressing the newspersons after the meeting, Mr. Dalmiya said, ``there were two parts on the agenda of the meeting. One was related to my personal decision and another regarding the fate of the state association. I informed the members about Mr. (Buddhadeb) Bhattacharjee's message asking me not to contest the polls. This is unprecedented and a serious matter and it demanded that as the president of the State body I tell the members officially about it. But when some of the members felt that it was a personal matter and did not merit discussion, it was given due consideration and the meeting terminated.''

The objection was raised by the former union minister Ajit Panja, who was joined by the former Bengal cricketer Snehashis Ganguly. They said that the agenda of the meeting did not permit any discussion on whether Dalmiya should contest.

AGM on July 30

The CAB annual general meeting is scheduled to be held on July 30.

The CAB joint secretaries Saradindu Pal and Amitava Banerjee said, ``the matter could be taken up in the working committee meeting scheduled on July 5. If the committee deems it fit then the issue will be referred to the general body.''

Mr. Dalmiya showed the members a 10-page letter addressed to the sports minister that was aimed at allaying the apprehensions regarding the standard of the sport if the present body continued in power.

``The other matter was related to the apprehensions about the standard of cricket in Bengal and whether the CAB would get its due share of matches if the present regime continued in power. I tried to allay those fears,'' Dalmiya said.

BCCI asked to apologise

Meanwhile, Jagmohan Dalmiya shot off a strongly worded letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asking the latter to unconditionally apologise and withdraw its earlier letter. This has sparked off a letter-war between the National and the State body of cricket.

The BCCI in its letter, issued on June 29, had held Dalmiya responsible for not responding to its show-cause notice and conveyed its decision to refer the matter to the Board's disciplinary committee. The BCCI missive also spoke of withholding subsidies and payments to its affiliate and debited Rs. 40 crores to CAB.

Dalmiya, in his letter addressed to the BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, countered that BCCI was following the doctrines of ``unfairness'' and ``bad faith'' in its acts and conducts. The CAB president threatened to take ``necessary steps as I may be legally advised'' against Board secretary if he did not conform to his demands. ``If the acts and conduct of BCCI, including contents of your letter of June 29 are considered, it would be explicitly clear that the BCCI is following the doctrines of unfairness and bad faith, apart from acting arbitrarily and capriciously,'' the letter issued by Dalmiya said. ``Without prejudice and reserving all my accrued rights and entitlements, you are hereby called upon to withdraw your letter under reference and tender an unconditional apology forthwith. In the event of non-compliance, appropriate steps, as I may be legally advised, would be initiated against you personally at your peril and consequences,'' the letter added.

Terming the BCCI charge "false and frivolous,'' the president's letter charged the Board of "willful suppression of facts'' by not allowing him the chance to inspect its records on May 5, 2006.

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