NSC to wait for inquiry committee's report to decide BCB's fate

The National Sports Council official said on Friday that they will take a call on the future of the Bangladesh Cricket Board once they receive the report that will be prepared by a newly-formed five-member inquiry committee.

Recently, the NSC formed an investigation committee to probe the BCB election after widespread allegations were made against the process that was followed during the last election. NSC asked the committee to submit its report to the State Minister for Youth and Sports within 15 working days.

The announcement from the NSC high-up came days after it dissolved all the ad-hoc committees that had been functioning at Upazila, District and Divisional Sports Associations.

NSC announced the decision through an official notification submitted to different sports associations on March 10, which was accessed by Cricbuzz, where they directed the concerned authorities to form new ad-hoc committees and abolish the previous ones.

"Under the powers conferred by Section 2 (15) of the National Sports Council (NSC) Act, 2018, the Upazila Sports Associations, District Sports Associations, and Divisional Sports Associations have been functioning for the development of local sports according to their respective constitutions," stated the letter that was submitted by the NSC to different sports bodies.

"In accordance with Article 24.3 of the Upazila Sports Association Constitution, Article 28.3 of the District Sports Association Constitution, and Article 23.3 of the Divisional Sports Association Constitution, the previously formed Committees/Ad-hoc Committees of the Upazila, District, and Divisional Sports Associations, respectively, have been dissolved with the approval of the Chairman of the NSC," it stated.

"Simultaneously, all previously issued letters or directives regarding the formation of Committees/Ad-hoc Committees have also been revoked. By virtue of the powers vested in the NSC, the proposal for the formation of seven-member Ad-hoc Committees for the Upazila Sports Associations, District Sports Associations, and Divisional Sports Associations," it added.

When contacted, NSC Executive Director (Joint Secretary) Md Doulotuzzaman Khan told Cricbuzz on Friday that the move was taken in order to have fresh elections in different sports bodies.

"Those previous ad-hoc committees did not properly organise the elections. Now, the current government wants these organisations to be run by elected representatives. That's why the previous ad-hoc committees were dissolved, and new guidelines for ad-hoc committees have been issued," said Doulotuzzaman.

"Once we receive those, we will grant approval and proceed with the elections. We are trying to conduct the elections as quickly as possible, for all of them-divisional, district, and Upazila," he said.

Quite a few eyebrows were raised following the NSC's move to dissolve the ad-hoc committees formed by the previous Yunus-led government that backed the present board run by Aminul Islam. Fingers are currently being pointed at the legality of the BCB directors coming into the board from District and Divisions considering the ad-hoc committee that backed them in the last election, courtesy government influence, is currently revoked. Added to that are the allegations of bias against those committees during the previous BCB election, and allegations of not providing an opportunity to seasoned cricket organisers that prompted Tamim Iqbal and a few others to quit after joining the election race.

The BCB constitution states that 10 out of 25 directors are to be elected from Category-1, representing district and divisional sports associations and BCB president Aminul Islam along with nine others joined the board through that category.

The category 1 directors are - BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul and Nazmul Abedeen Fahim (Dhaka Division), Ahsan Iqbal Chowdhury and Asif Akbar (Chattogram Division), Abdur Razzak and Md Zulfikar Khan (Khulna Division), Mohammad Mokhlesur Rahman (Rajshahi Division), Hasanuzzaman (Rangpur Division), Rahat Sams (Sylhet Division), and Md Shakhawat Hossain (Barishal Division).

Many insisted that the government influenced different sports bodies' ad-hoc committees to send the names of councillors of their choice. This came after Aminul Islam rejected some names and sent a letter to make sure councillors from divisions and districts are picked as per his desire as that would pave the way for him to become BCB president - considering the president is chosen by the elected 25 directors.

Doulotuzzaman said that they are waiting for the outcome of the investigation committee before making a final call.

"The matter is that they (Aminul and others) were councillors (selected by the ad-hoc committees) for the BCB election. An independent inquiry commission has been formed to look into the BCB election," he said.

"Until we receive the report from that inquiry commission, we cannot make any comments or remarks on this matter (about the future of the board and possible scrutiny over the councillors).

"They will provide recommendations based on the laws and regulations. As you know, the commission is headed by a retired judge," he said.

The investigation committee formed on 11 March is headed by Retired Supreme Court judge AKM Asaduzzaman. Other members include Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Md Selim Fakir, Joint Commissioner (DB Admin & South) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Mohammad Nasirul Islam, sports journalist ATM Sayeed Uzzaman and Supreme Court advocate Barrister Saleh Akram Samrat.

Cricbuzz understands that there is a huge possibility about forming an ad-hoc committee to run the board by the government if the investigation committee eventually finds out irregularities in the board.

After that, the ad-hoc committee will determine the future course of action that would be followed to run the board smoothly.