We have no reason to take over P.C.B., says Sports Ministry

Karachi, Sep 25 (PTI) The Sports Ministry has cleared all apprehensions regarding its move to control the Pakistan Cricket Board affairs, saying it considers the Board as an autonomous body and such speculations were "incorrect".

"We have no reason to take over or meddle in its
affairs and the step to monitor their policies is a stop gap
one. Your apprehensions that we want to take over P.C.B.
because it is a rich body is all incorrect," Sports secretary
Ashraf Khan told reporters after meeting with Board officials
in Lahore on Wednesday.

Ashraf also defended the performance of the Board
insisting they were working under a lot of constraints.

"These constraints include issues like teams not
touring Pakistan and the national team is not getting exposure
and enough matches. The P.C.B. is running the affairs quite
smoothly despite the fact that teams are reluctant to tour
Pakistan.
There efforts are commendable in this regard," he
said.

Ashraf said the ministry for the time being have taken
the operational, administrative and functional control of some
of the policy making of the Board through an amendment in
their constitution to fill in the void created by the
resignation of Chairman, Nasim Ashraf last month.

"There were some legal implications in the 2007
constitution which was issued by the S.R.O. of the Sports
Ministry as through it, all powers rested with the Chairman.
"He was the one who could call the Governing Body
meeting, which is the core decision making body, he was the
one to whom the body would have submitted their requisitions
and the C.O.O. and C.F.O. were supposed to report to him as
well. Therefore, in his absence a void was created which we
have tried to fill in with the amendment," he explained.

He said the amendment would become redundant, the moment
a new Chairman takes over the control of the board.

"The amendment says that till the appointment of the new
Chairman, the ministry of sports will make the final
decisions. As soon as the new Chairman takes over, the
amendment will become ineffective and the Chairman will have
all the powers as per the P.C.B. constitution," Ashraf said.

He said even in present environment the day to day
matters of the Board will be taken care of by the Chief
Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi, who is a seasoned
bureaucrat.

"The rest of the issues including policy making will be
decided by the Ministry, and that are the modalities we are
discussing," he said.

The sports secretary said he was not sure till when the
ministry would have to continue monitoring the Board affairs
as the new Chairman could be appointed in a matter of days,
weeks or months.

"The step was taken to fill the legal void created by the
resignation of the P.C.B. Chairman. We don't know how long we
have to manage the affairs but once the Chairman takes over,
we will move on. We don't know how long it will take, it can
be a matter of days or weeks." PTI Cor