Sair Ali assumes interim chairman office

Retired judge tasked with holding PCB elections within 30 days.

KARACHI: Justice (retd) Sair Ali assumed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman office on Wednesday after being named the acting chairman and election commissioner by the Government of Pakistan.

Ali has been directed to conduct the board’s elections completed within 30 days, after which a new chairman will take over.

The PCB witnessed numerous changes at the helm in the last 12 months due to court cases, during which Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf continued to assume power alternately.

However, the tug of war is over now after orders from the Supreme Court dismissed Ashraf’s petition and Sethi opted not to contest the elections.

“We’ll ask the regions and departments to send their nominees for the Governing Board (GB),” said Ali while addressing the media in Lahore.

“As soon as we get the names, we’ll immediately try to announce the date of the elections.”

The new GB will comprise 10 members — two special nominees from the Patron PCB and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and four representatives each from departments and regions.

The current top four departmental and regional teams will nominate their members.

“Only members of the GB will be able to contest the elections of chairman,” added Ali.

Shahrayar Khan is currently the leading candidate to become PCB chief after he was named as a special nominee in place of Iqbal Umar.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2014.

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