ess Trust of India / Jaipur/New Delhi December 16, 2006
| The fall from grace for Jagmohan Dalmiya, the once-revered Czar of Indian and world cricket administration, is now complete with his expulsion today from the BCCI and removal from all posts therein on charges of financial irregularities. |
| This follows his defeat in the BCCI presidential election last year. Dalmiya, who's justfiably credited with bringing in big-time money into the cricket board's coffers through mega deal television rights along with his friend-turned-foe Inderjit Singh Bindra, has bit the dust this time. 'Jaggu', as he is called by his friends and foes alike, rose slowly but surely up the ranks of cricket officialdom. After a humble beginning with his home association - Cricket Association of Bengal - he switched to the BCCI and then went on to occupy the highest administrative position at the International Cricket Council. In fact, it was during his stint as president of the ICC that the world governing body for the game - which used to occupy a small place at cricket's hallowed Lord's in London - became cash-rich which has resulted in it hiring more staff and then shift its headquarters to Dubai. Dalmiya's shrewdness in money matters came to the fore when he challenged the likes of M A Chidambaram, then considered the financial wizard in the BCCI, and even questioned the way the funds of the Indian Board were being placed in savings instruments. This happened at Pune in the early 1980s and then he became the BCCI treasurer in 1983-84. There was no stopping him from that time onwards till his sudden fall from grace. Updated at 1300hrs: Former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was responsible for marketing the game to new heights, was today 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 (CAB), 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 (ICC), 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. |
