Pre-admission notices issued for Sethi’s PCB nomination

Petitioner seeks details of administrative expenses incurred by PCB

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday issued pre-admission notices to respondents in a petition challenging the nomination of Najam Sethi and Ejaz Arif as members of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the top cricketing body of the country.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued notices to on a petition filed by Tariq Asad.

Apart from challenging the nominations, the petitioner had sought court’s intervention to declare that a few clauses of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) constitution from 2014 is in contravention to the Constitution of 1973.

In his arguments, Asad said that Sethi, being a political person, was controlling the affairs of PCB apart from heading key wings of PCB such as member of BoG, chairman of the Executive Body, chairman of the HR Committee, member of the Audit Committee and chairman of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Moreover, Asad contended that Sethi was trying to incorporate a private limited company of PSL and that he had secured the prime minister’s approval for including him and Ejaz Arif in the BoG.

He further argued that on the directions of the premier, Sethi would become the chairman of the cricketing body (to be called as elected), adding that Sethi already had a resolution passed by the general body to appoint him as the next chief of PCB.

Asad said that in the 2007 version of the PCB’s constitution, the chairman was required to have high repute and integrity with management experience. However, in the amended constitution of 2014, the chairman may simply be a graduate with sufficient administrative, managerial or financial experience.

In the second edition of PSL, he alleged that Sethi’s negligence, and incorrect planning and bad management led to the emergence of a spot-fixing scandal.

Further, Rs2.5 billion had been spent on tours of different Pakistani teams and on domestic tournaments, while in the same year, administrative expenses were a staggering Rs3.3 billion.

He further said that under the PCB constitution, of the 16 regions, only four regions (25 per cent) represent the BOG for a period of three years while the remaining 12 regions (75 per cent) remain entirely deprived of their representation on the board.

He urged the court to declare the nomination of Sethi and Arif to the PCB’s board of governors as illegal as well as a few clauses of the PCB Constitution 2014 as ultra vires.

He also requested the court to direct the respondents to present details of administrative expenses and other expenditures incurred by the PCB and an up-to-date report of each and every account to whom payments were made.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2017.