Kathmandu, October 16
Nepal’s government has said the International Cricket Council’s proposed terms of reference for the to-be-formed advisory committee is not acceptable.
The committee, which is to review Nepal’s cricket association’s charter and to prepare a plan to establish a new board, cannot function if the ICC dictates terms to the government, the Ministry of Sports has told the world governing body.
The ministry’s joint secretary Chudamani Paudel, who has been proposed as a member of the committee, told Onlinekhabar, “We have written to the ICC on our reservations over the ToR of the committee. The ICC is yet to respond.”
Following the suspension of Cricket Association of Nepal by the ICC in April, the international body has been in regular consultation with local stakeholders. CEO David Richardson was in Nepal in the first week of September for talks with the Prime Minister as well as the Sports Minister. Wrapping up his visit to Kathmandu, Richardson had announced that the ICC would soon form an advisory committee to review CAN’s statute, and to hold fresh elections.
Last week, the ICC, which tried hard to get the Chatur Bahadur Chand (‘elected CAN’) faction to come on board the committee, formally proposed to the government names of people it wants on the committee. A draft of the ToR of the committee was also presented.
However, the government says the draft does not reflect the agreement it reached with the ICC in September. The government says, it would be against the protocol for an ICC staffer (Ammar Sheikh, extreme left on the photo above ) to lead a committee, which has a senior Nepali official as its member.
Similarly, the government says it, and not the ICC, should implement the report prepared by the new committee. It has also expressed reservations over a provision in the draft that allows the ICC to sack any committee member whenever it wants to.
The government has said it wants the committee to run cricket activities in Nepal until fresh elections for the new board are held.
