BCCI snubs NADA , says it has no jurisdiction to test cricketers

New Delhi, November 10 

In a stern response to National Anti Doping Agency (NADA), the Indian cricket board (BCCI) has said that the government body has no jurisdiction to conduct dope tests on Indian cricketers. In a letter written on November 8 to NADA chief Navin Agarwal, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri made it clear that there was no requirement for NADA to test the cricketers as the board was not a National Sports Federation (NSF) and its own anti-doping system was robust enough.

“It is relevant to mention here that BCCI is not a National Sports Federation. Accordingly, NADA does not have the jurisdiction to conduct dope testing of Indian cricketers in any domestic or international event organised or under the aegis of BCCI,” Johri wrote in the letter.

“In the light of the aforesaid, there is no requirement for any BCCI official to co-ordinate with NADA for dope testing of Indian cricketers either during competitions or out of completions.”

The BCCI response was prepared with instructions from the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators. Besides responding to the NADA chief, Johri also wrote to the sports secretary, who had asked BCCI in October to cooperate with NADA. 

Johri said the board’s existing anti-doping mechanism was robust enough. “BCCI already has a robust dope testing mechanism, which is employed for both in-competition and out-of-competition testing. Besides, the testing of samples is being done at a WADA accredited laboratory (NDTL) under the aegis of the Sports Ministry,” he wrote.

He further claimed that BCCI was compliant with the WADA Code. “You will appreciate that for analysis and testing of samples, BCCI adheres to the WADA International Standard of Laboratories and the WADA International Standard for Testing and Investigations.

“Accordingly, BCCI has engaged the services of the same expert sample collection agency, International Doping Tests and Management (IDTM), as by ICC. IDTM sends the collected samples for testing to a WADA accredited laboratory, National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), as mandated by WADA. Since the CEO of NDTL is sports secretary, the dope testing for BCCI is conducted under the aegis of the Sports Ministry,” wrote Johri.

He further reasoned that since BCCI was an autonomous body affiliated to the International Cricket Council (ICC), it was only required to operate within the rules and regulations of ICC. — PTI

BCCI’s stand

BCCI is not a National Sports Federation. Accordingly, NADA does not have the jurisdiction to conduct dope testing of Indian cricketers in any domestic or international event organised or under the aegis of BCCI.

BCCI already has a robust dope testing mechanism, which is employed for both in-competition and out-of-competition testing. Besides, the testing of samples is being done at a WADA accredited laboratory (NDTL) under the aegis of the Sports Ministry. — Rahul Johri, BCCI CEO