Cricket board: Govt ready to hold PCB election, says AGP

Zaka Ashraf rejects audit report submitted by the inter-provincial coordination ministry.

ISLAMABAD:

Attorney General for Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt told the Supreme Court that the government is ready to hold election for the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) chairman and its schedule would be announced on Wednesday. However, no schedule was announced until the filing of this story.

A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, was hearing the appeal of Ministry of inter-provincial coordination on Wednesday against Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) January 17 judgment regarding the restoration of Zaka Ashraf as PCB chairman.

The AG further stated that this election would be held under a new PCB constitution and an election commission has already been appointed.

He requested the bench to adjourn the case till today (Thursday) so that important steps could be taken. The court, accepting AG’s plea, adjourned the hearing.

Talking to the media, current PCB chairman Najam Sethi said that under the new constitution, the board’s members could remove the chief through a vote of confidence. The prime minister has already approved the new PCB constitution, he said, adding that an accountability system would be developed for the eradication of corruption.

On the other hand, Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui, the counsel for former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, objected to the new constitution which has been framed by “an ad-hoc PCB chairman”.

He also submitted a reply to the audit reports regarding the alleged irregularities in PCB during his 22-month tenure.

The audit report is ill-motivated, tainted and has been prepared with mala fide intent at the behest of the unlawfully declared PCB chairman Najam Sethi, Siddiqui contended. “The alleged internal audit has neither been supervised nor conducted by lawful appointees under the PCB constitution and thus does not require any deliberation whatsoever.”

Earlier, the inter-provincial coordination ministry submitted an audit report claiming that Ashraf spent a staggering Rs25.78 million on trips. Moreover, expenses during his tenure were 4.2 times higher than his predecessor Ijaz Butt, it added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2014.