16. Dec, 2006.
Indian cricket board
expels its former president Dalmiya
JAIPUR, Dec 16: Former BCCI
President Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was responsible for marketing the game
to new heights, was expelled from the Board and removed from all posts
on charges of financial irregularities during his tenure at the helm of
BCCI.
The Special General Body
of the Board, which met here and heard him on the charges levelled against
him, adopted a resolution that expelled him from the Board and barred him
from holding any position in any organs of the cricket body, including
state associations.
The resolution was adopted
29-2 against him. The Cricket Association of Bengal, of which he is the
President, and the National Cricket Club, Kolkata, of which also he is
the head voted in his support. Interestingly, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, once
his loyalist, voted against him.
The 66-year-old Dalmiya,
a former president of the International Cricket Council, has been given
the right to appeal after three years for inclusion in the Board, BCCI
Media Committee member Rajiv Shukla said after the meeting.
However, Dalmiya, who has
strongly denied the charges, said after the expulsion that he had submitted
a 46-page report which the disciplinary committee did not even read.
"They did not even read it.
They are all biased. There is no misappropriation. It is only their misinterpretation,"
he said.
The meeting was presided
over by BCCI President and Union Minister Sharad Pawar, with whom he has
been having a running battle for over two years now.
Dalmiya's nominee Mahendra
had defeated Pawar in the election to BCCI President's post a couple of
years ago but the Union Minister had his last laugh when he defeated in
the election last year.
Dalmiya was accused of producing
forged documents and misappropriation of funds to the tune of crores of
rupees from the PILCOM accounts, formed for the World Cup 1996 co-hosted
by the India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
BCCI Vice-President Shashank
Manohar said Dalmiya was given a fair chance to put up his defence. "We
gave him a fair chance. He was heard by a full house. But whatever he said
carried no weight," he said.
"There was a 42-page report
against him. We cannot go into minute details. But there were serious charges
against him." he added.
Asked about CAB's stand that
it would not remove Dalmiya, Manohar said in that case "we will take action
against the state body".
Shukla said he gave some
explanation on the charges levelled against him, which were countered by
Treasurer N Srinivasan, who moved the resolution against Dalmiya.
"This case has been going
on for a year. He has been asked to produce account books and even today
he did not submit them," he said.
Asked whether any action
was being planned against Dalmiya for the alleged financial misconduct,
shukla said already Mumbai police were investigating the case.
India
Cricket
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