Dual role: Parida selector with Railways, Orissa

Vinayak Padmadeo
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 26

The new constitution of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) is pretty clear when it comes to the one man, one post policy. Even a remote possibility of a conflict of case situation could warrant a hearing with DK Jain, BCCI’s Ethics Officer. For instance, former India captain Rahul Dravid had to appear before Jain for taking up the role of the National Cricket Association director, despite being employed with Indian Cements, the company which owns Chennai Super Kings.

But strangely enough, retired Railways off-spinner Kulamani Parida has been performing his duties as a member of the selection committees of both Railways and the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA).

When contacted, Parida, citing OCA’s election, said he is yet to sign a contract with them. However, various sources have confirmed that Parida, who represented Railways in 108 First-Class matches, has carried on with his two duties. In fact, Orissa’s chief coach Rashmi Ranjan Parida confirmed that Parida was part of the selection panel that selected the side that is representing Odisha in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Interestingly, the Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) was unaware of Parida’s conflict of interest. RSPB secretary Prem Chand Lochab said they were looking into the matter. “The matter has been brought in our notice only recently and we will deal with this appropriately,” Lochab told The Tribune today.

RSPB coordinator Sanjay Kumar clarified that Railways doesn’t pay its selectors any remuneration, so it wasn’t a grave violation of the rules. “We don’t pay them any money. So I don’t think it is a big issue. But the problem with Railways is that many of our players who have played 30-odd matches are mostly with other state bodies, so that may explain this oversight,” Kumar said.

Main selector, U-23 coach

Parida is not the only one to have been found in violation of the one man, one post rule. Another Railways selector, Santosh Saxena, has been the chief coach of the Railways U-23 side for the last few years. 

Dravid deposes before Ethics Officer 

New Delhi/Mumbai:  Former India captain Rahul Dravid deposed before the BCCI Ethics Officer DK Jain to explain the conflict of interest charge against him that has been downplayed by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which had cited the example of former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. The complaint was filed by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association life member Sanjeev Gupta, who had stated that Dravid had taken a “Leave of Absence” and not resigned from his position at India Cements (owners of IPL franchise CSK) to take up the role of the National Cricket Academy’s Director of Cricket. It is learnt that CoA has offered support to Dravid’s cause, with its head Vinod Rai giving a note to the Ethics Officer, citing two examples where a person’s leave of absence from an organisation is not seen in conflict with his current post of employment. “He cited the examples of former RBI Governor Rajan, who took leave of absence from his teaching role at the University of Chicago. The CoA note also cites the example of Arvind Panagariya, the former vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog, who was on lien from Columbia University. In both cases, the gentlemen in question held very sensitive government positions and were not taking any remuneration from their previous employers,” a BCCI official said.— PTI