BCCI to draw line at Ombudsman's jurisdiction over state-level matters

BCCI office at the 95th Annual General Meeting BENGALURU: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to introduce a policy defining the scope of the ombudsman and barring his office from handling complaints relating to local or state-level matters, TimesofIndia.com has learnt.The aim of this step is to draw a clearer line between the problems that fall under the authority of the public defender of rights and those that the relevant state associations should solve first. The move came after several members, including representatives of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA), Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), Baroda Cricket Association (BCA), Punjab Cricket Association and Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), raised strong objections during the BCCI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai last week to the state ombudsman’s handling of complaints related to local affairs.Alleging that such complaints lead to additional legal costs for the state association, the members argued that local grievance redressal mechanisms should be exhausted before the matter is referred to the BCCI Ombudsman. They also questioned the competence of the ombudsman in matters that primarily concern the functioning of individual state associations.In the new framework, the ombudsman will have clear conditions for the complaints he can deal with, especially those concerning state associations.“The BCCI will make a policy to limit the ombudsman’s interference in state-level matters. The board has decided to give clear terms to the ombudsman when it comes to handling complaints related to state associations,” an administrator who was part of the AGM told TimesofIndia.com.