The National Sports Council and the Bangladesh Cricket Board were served with a legal notice on Thursday asking why they should not take initiative of holding an election to the cricket oversight body.
Barrister Mahbub Shafique served the notice on behalf two former BCB councilors, Reaz Ahmed Babu and Moshiur Rahman, known as close aides to former BCB director Dewan Shafiul Arefin.
Reaz Babu, the general secretary of third division club Dhaka Cricketers, who has a strong link with Premier League side Kalabagan KC, said they decided to serve the legal notice as neither the NSC nor the BCB took any initiative for an election.
‘The election of the BCB has become long overdue but I don’t see any initiative from any side,’ said Reaz. ‘The government has appointed the current ad hoc committee, asking them to hold an election in three months. Now seven months have passed since the appointment. But I don’t see any sign of an election.’
The BCB is currently run by a 13-member ad hoc committee, which took over the charge on November 27. They are now facing a race against time about holding the election to fulfil an International Cricket Council obligation.
The ICC said all of its member nations must have an elected body before June 2013, or face a suspension, making it almost mandatory for the BCB to hold an election including the post of president.
The BCB officials said they held back the election process as it is yet to be decided which constitution should be followed. The matter is still pending in court as two organisers challenged the constitution which was amended by the BCB and the NSC last year.
The former councillor argued that since the legitimacy of amended constitution was challenged in court, the BCB could follow its previous constitution adopted in 2008 and still hold an election.
‘No organisation should be run by unelected persons for an indefinite period. For the greater interest of cricket I think the BCB should go for an election immediately,’ said Reaz.
‘If there was an elected body I think the recent issues could have been better handled. The BCB is facing some series of crisis in the recent times and we believe an elected body can deal with them in a more credible way.’
The NSC, which supervises the election of all sports federations, however, said it did not receive the legal notice.
‘We have not received any notice yet, so I cannot really comment on this issue. Maybe we can clear our position on Sunday on this issue,’ said NSC secretary Ahmed Morshed.
-With New Age input
